Kingdom Hearts 3: Unfinished Business
by ShadowBrawler2000
Summary: Maleficent and Organization XIII are back. Sora and allies must travel once again, to protect the worlds from darkness. Fighting enemies old and new, can they compete against such overwhelming odds? SoraxKairi RikuxOC. Updating. CH.5 Update up.
1. Chapter 1: Prologue

_Hello and welcome to my newly renovated fanfic, Kingdom Hearts 3: Unfinished Business. This should be the (Hopefully) Final Template. Any new additions will not affect those who already have had characters accepted, but you are free to make any additions if you want to. Also, please erase what you do not choose to fill out._

_Template: _

_Name:_

_Nickname: (Optional)_

_Age: _

_Height/Weight:_

_Hair/eye color:_

_Description: 1 paragraph, or 4 sentences Minimum_

_Personality: Couple sentences to a paragraph minimum._

_Weapons:Basic descriptions required. Up to three. Ex. (Two handed Zweihander with a 5' black blade and red handguard with a triquetra symbol engraved on the blade above the handguard.)_

_Keyblade: (Optional). Following keyblades exempt.( Oblivion, Oathkeeper, Diamond Dust, Ultima Weapon, Way To The Dawn, Two Across, One Wing Angel.) If using original design, Basic description's required._

_Magic: Up To Three Types. Balanced. Ex 1. Firaga, Blizzard, Thundara. Ex 2. Curaja, Aerora, Gravity._

_Special Techniques: 2 – 4. Think along the lines of Limit Attacks or an Overdrive._

Chapter 1: Destiny Islands.

On the Beach of Destiny Islands, a month following Sora's most recent adventure, he, Riku and Kairi were lounging on the paopu fruit tree near the sea, when they spotted something floating in the water.

" What's that." Sora asked. He and Riku watched the object follow the current ashore, revealing it to be a message in a bottle.

" What's this?" Sora wondered as he picked up the bottle. Inside it, he saw a note in beige parchment with the seal of King Mickey sealing the note.

" This must be from Mickey." Riku

" What is it, Sora?" Kairi asked.

" It's a message from the king." Sora responded, pulling off the cork and taking out the note.

" _Sora, Riku and Kairi. If this has reached you, then you know that the worlds are once again in danger. I've received word that Maleficent and the Organization have returned, as well as the heartless and nobodies. Since my gummi-ship is under repair, i'm sending some friends of mine to pick you up. They'll be accompanying us on this mission. Take heed, the organization and Maleficent are both growing in strength. We'll need all the help we can get. As we travel, we need to search for other, unknown keybladers. They'll be imperative in our mission. Unlike last time, we can't defeat our enemies alone._

_Your Ally and Friend, King Mickey. _

" Looks like our job's not quite done." Sora said, summoning his Kingdom Key. Riku summoned his Way to the Dawn while Kairi summoned her Heart of Twilight.

" May light triumph over darkness." The three said, crossing their keyblades.

" It's getting late. Let's get some rest and then start training before the king's allies get here. We've got a lot of work today." Riku said. Sora and Kairi nodded, and the three parted ways towards their respective homes, pondering the news given to them by the king.

_Over all short, sweet and to the point. Stay tuned for chapter two: Radiant Garden._


	2. Chapter 2: Radiant Garden

_I have a few notes for everyone. First, the blade of Dante's sword resembles Tidus' Longsword from Final Fantasy X, albeit black instead of red and a different style handguard. Also, I apologize for my lack of updates as of late._

Chapter 2: Radiant Garden.

In orbit near destiny islands, a mid sized gummi-ship was slowly approaching when confronted by several Heartless and Nobody spaceships.

" Guys, it looks like things are about to get crazy. Get ready. Cain?" Dante said, his ice blue eyes scanning the various screens in front of him.

" Lasers charged. Kyo, boosters? Rockets?" Cain said.

" Boosters primed, rockets loaded." Kyoichi said.

" Alright gentleman, lets show these fools the joys of superior fire." Dante said, sending the gummi-ship, dubbed the Crimson Fang MK III, into a barrel-roll to avoid a barrage of lasers from several small heartless ships. Dante fired several bursts from the gummi-ship's guns, destroying several of the heartless. Dante then fired two salvos of rockets, destroying a larger heartless ship. An extremely large heartless ship suddenly began firing a hailstorm of lasers, some impacting against the gummi-ship's shield. Dante maneuvered around most of the lasers flying to the back end of the ship, firing several bursts of laser fire at the heartless ship's engines. Two of the damaged engines exploded, while a third died out, leaving the heartless ship's remaining engine to begin to spin the ship out of control. Dante flew near the middle of the ship, firing a pair of missiles directly at the bridge, destroying the ship outright. Many nearby heartless ships were caught in the resulting explosion, as the crimson fang's shields absorbed the impact. Dante began destroying some more of the smaller, more nimble ships, having Cain and Kyoichi watch for any ships on their tail. Finally, the remaining ships scattered, leaving only the crimson fang and the wreckage of the ships they destroyed.

" We got them. The rest are running like the cowards that they are." Kyoichi said with a laugh. Dante and Cain cracked a grin, before lowering the ship in a remote area on the island, still early morning. They waited until the sun began shining, then left for the beach. Around noon, they saw three people walk over to a tree with star shaped fruit. Dante, Cain and Kyo decided to walk over after making sure no one else was nearby.

" Hey, Sora." Dante called.

" Who are you guys?" Sora asked, ready to summon his keyblade if need be. He saw the one on the right with crimson red eyes and jet black hair covering his face wearing a black trench coat, boots and cargo pants with several buckles and belts, carrying a large sword in a sheath on his back and a handgun in a thigh holster. The man on the left with emerald green eyes and heavily spiked blonde hair much like Cloud's, wearing a lightweight black hoodie with a crimson scarf wrapped around his neck and a pair of plain black pants. He wore a black headband with a metal plate on the forehead, a pair of metal armor plates on his arms and carried two pouches on each leg, a pair of short katanas on the back of his waist and a 4 ½ foot katana with black wrapping around the handle. The man in the middle had ice blue eyes and cleanly styled snow white hair, also wearing a black trench coat though the sleeves were rolled up to his elbows, showing the black and silver bracelet with a fire symbol embedded in a red jewel located in the middle. He carried a sword on his back that had an asymmetrical hand guard and was close to five feet that was very wide due to the size of the sheath. All three wore black fingerless gloves, the man with the scarf's having metal plates above the knuckles.

" Relax. The king did tell you of our arrival, did he not?" The man in the middle said.

" Yeah, he did. This is Riku, and Kairi. It seems you already know me. I was expecting you three to look less, intimidating." Sora said, slightly nervous.

" . The name's Dante Kousume. This is Cain Sato and Kyoichi Shishoui. It's nice to meet you three in person." Dante said.

" You three look like quite the fighters." Riku said.

" You've got quite an eye." Cain said.

" We'll be staying her for about a week before we leave. The king wanted us to get acquainted, and to help you, Riku and Kairi train to prepare for your new battle." Cain said.

" Sounds good. It'll be good chance to get back into prime fighting condition before we have to start saving the worlds again." Riku said.

" Sora, how about you and I have a friendly sparring match. I want to gauge the skills of the keyblade master." Dante said.

" Sounds good to me." Sora responded, summoning his Oathkeeper keyblade.

" Impressive, now here's mine." Dante said, holding out his hand. Seconds later, a keyblade appeared in Dante's hand, much to the shock of Sora, Riku and Kairi. The teeth and shaft keyblade resembled a ball of fire and a katana with a keychain resembling a red cord with an angel wing as the charm.

" You're a keyblader too?" Sora said.

" Yep. This is One Winged Angel." Dante said. He then drew his sword, which had a black blade with a chrome edge and an uneven Sai style handguard. The sheath, Riku surmised, was so wide due to the blade curving back half way down the opposite side of the sword, resembling a large fishing hook.

" And this is my own, hand crafted weapon, Resonant Fang." Dante said, the light reflecting off his blade's chrome edge.

" You've got talent. That sword must've been difficult to make." Riku said.

" It was, especially forging the part of the blade that curves back down. It reflects my fighting style." Dante said.

" Well, shall we?" Dante said. Sora nodded, and jump bringing down his keyblade in a horizontal slash. Dante back stepped, pinning Sora's keyblade to the ground with his own.

" He who makes the first move makes the first mistake. He allows his enemy the chance to see his style and counter his attack." Dante said. Sora swung again, as Dante leaned back, watching the keyblade pass inches above his face. Sora continued his attack, becoming more angered as Dante parried his attacks, retaliating with some of his own. Sora spun around, bring his keyblade down hard. Dante swung up, knocking the keyblade into the air as Dante pointed his weapon at Sora, inches away from his chest.

" As you became angrier your focus began to diminish, allowing Dante to parry your attack with ease." Kyoichi said.

" Remember, always take advantage of your opponents weaknesses. Don't just rely on skill. Use everything you know and learn to defeat your enemies." Cain said. Sora nodded, then summoned his keyblade back to him, slashing at Dante, who blocked the blow with his own keyblade.

" I see you have deception down pat. Always remain unpredictable. Harder for your enemies to catch you off guard." Dante said, swiping his keyblade, then swinging his sword seconds later to catch Sora off guard. Sora, however, saw the attack coming, catching Dante in a sweep kick. He hit the ground, bringing his sword up to block Sora's keyblade. Dante pushed upwards, knocking Sora back long enough to get to his feet. Dante swung his sword at the ground, kicking up sand as Sora ran towards him.

" Fire!" Dante called, aiming the spell at the sand he kicked up. The sand instantly turned to glass, which Sora slammed headfirst into, shattering the freshly made glass into pieces. Sora, turned over, hold his left hand over a fresh wound from the hastily made glass.

" I always liked the fact that super heated sand could turn into glass. Cure." Dante said. Seconds later Sora's wound disappeared, though some traces of blood still remained on his face. He wiped away as much as he could and looked at Dante, readying his keyblade. He shot towards Dante again, their keyblades sending sparks each tome they clashed. Dante pushed Sora back again as his opponent quick stepped towards him, swinging his keyblade, seconds later summoning a second one, prompting Dante to back flip to avoid the attack. He looked, seeing Sora holding a second keyblade modeled after a marble building.

" I see you've been working on your technique, and even learned another rule. The longer a battle takes, the more time you have to analyze your opponent's moves and devise a strategy against them." Dante said, drawing resonant fang again. Dante shot towards Sora, the two matching each other blow for blow. Dante knelt to the ground, delivering a sweep kick that knocked Sora on his back, pointing his sword at Sora's chest.

"Check. . ." Dante started, seconds later noticing the keyblade inches from his own chest, seeing Sora holding said weapon.

" and mate." Sora finished, smirking. Dante returned his keyblade and sheathed his sword, helping Sora to his feet.

" Your good. I see the keyblade chose wisely." Dante said.

" Same with you. I'd be honored to battle alongside you."

" As would I. Cain, how about you and Riku have a go?" Dante suggested.

" Why not. Some new blood to spar with." Cain said, drawing his weapon. The sword was five feet with a black X shaped handguard with a red jewel embedded in the middle and a black handle & pommel. The blade was double sided with a shiny chrome finish. Cain brought the sword up, resting it on his shoulder. Riku summoned his Way to the Dawn keyblade, getting into a fighting stance. Cain pointed his sword at Riku, then shot towards him, connecting with Riku's weapon. Riku's knees bent slightly due to the sheer weight of the blade impacting with his keyblade, but held his ground. Cain drew back before shooting forward again, swiping towards Riku's feet, who jumped to avoid the attack. Cain used his momentum to carry his blade up, barely nicking Riku, leaving a small gash in the keyblader's arm. Riku swung his weapon, launching a wave of darker orange fire at Cain, who dissipated the attack with a mere swipe of his sword. Riku charged, using his weapon's maneuverability to counteract Cain's strength. Despite this, Cain still managed to meet Riku blow for blow.

" You're pretty good. You're definitely more accustomed to fighting than Sora, though the both of you are pretty strong regardless." Cain said, drawing his handgun, firing several shots at Riku, testing his ability to dodge. As expected, Riku dodged each shot with shear speed, rolls or flips. Cain holstered his firearm, opting once again to hand to hand combat. Riku jumped to avoid Cain's rush, spinning in midair to catch Cain unaware. Cain suffered a gash to his face before blocking the remainder of the attack, using his sword like a bat to knock Riku away, far enough back to send him several feet into the ocean. Cain quickly used a heal spell as Riku swam back to shore, despite Sora's laughter.

" At least I didn't run into a wall of glass." Riku said, straightening his drenched hair.

" So, how about you?" Dante asked Kairi.

" Well, i'm still learning from Sora and Riku. I'm not very good." Kairi said.

" Skill takes time to earn. Just train hard and observe when you have to and you can gain the strength to protect your friends. I suggest we work on basic magic and fighting techniques first." Dante said. After some rudimentary training in magic, going off without a hitch except for when she accidentally set Dante's foot on fire, which had been put out by a quickly timed water spell, they began training Kairi in basic fighting styles.

" There are many styles associated with the sword alone. Fencing, Iaido and dueling are merely a few of many different styles. Many fighters also develop their own personal style of battling depending on their initial training as well as their fighting preferences. These can include those who use two or more swords to confuse opponents and utilize a flurry of attacks, or a short sword used in creative ways to turn the tide of battle. We'll start with some basic strikes, then a couple of mock fights. We'll continue this until you're comfortable with a style of your preference. Until you've reached a certain level of skill, you'll train with a bokken to decrease any chance of injury to yourself or others." Dante said. He and the others helped her with basic strikes on crudely constructed wood dummies, teaching her basic weak points and beginner level counter attacks. Eventually Kairi began sparring with Sora first. After a rough start, she began to match Sora's attacks, even getting a few clever blows on her fellow keyblader and friend. Kairi also learned from Sora and the others how acrobatics could also be utilized in sword fighting, such as using some hand springs and rolls to respond to attacks she couldn't easily block or dodge. When they weren't training, Sora introduced his new friends to Tidus, Wakka and Selphine, who too were interesting in the newcomers. Halfway throughout the week, Tidus confronted Dante, Cain and Kyoichi, challenging them to a three on three battle against him, Wakka and Selphine. The three accepted, only asking for a few hours to prepare some weapons for the fight. Kyoichi opted to use a bokken with white wrapping around the handle. Cain had grabbed a solid black oak bo staff with ornate carvings inscribed near the ends and a pair of wooden Dao, which he hung at his waist. Dante grabbed a wooden replica of a European dueling sword with a thick oak handguard and a 3 ½ foot blade. Dante also had a wooden Jian which he kept on his back with a triquetra etched on the blade. The three keybladers learned that they were the weapons they used before the heartless attack on radiant garden. When they were ready. They proceeded to the beach near where they'd been told by Sora that he and Riku had fought the three at, waiting for Tidus and the others to show up. Minutes later, they saw Tidus, Wakka and Selphine emerge from the jungle. Tidus had a wood carved sword resembling a straight edged katana with no hilt guard. Wakka had a large ball the size of a kick ball with several dimples on it with a dark and light blue color scheme which Dante learned was a blitzball, used in an underwater sport of the same name. Selphine had a pair of black, hardwood nun chucks connected by chains with a golden dragon emblazoned on each rod.

" We fight until every person on a team is unable to fight or concedes. Is that acceptable to all of you?" Dante asked.

" Why not." Tidus responded.

" Everybody ready? Begin!" Riku called, who was refereeing the fight, keeping a wooden sword of his own nearby. Selphine and Cain immediately started their attack, Cain blocking Selphine's well timed attacks with dizzying speed. Kyoichi saw Wakka spin his Blitzball, spinning it for several seconds before tossing it as him. Kyoichi ducked backwards to avoid being hit straight in the face with the ball, seeing it bounce off a nearby tree, returning to its owner. Dante saw Tidus swing at him, blocking the attack before swinging his Jian while blocking Tidus' weapon, making him jump back to avoid the attack. Selphine faked out Cain with a swing from her nun chucks, wrapping the weapons around Cain's bo staff before tossing it away, they weapon stabbing into the ground several feet away. Cain merely shrugged and drew his wooden Dao, knocking back Selphine's nun chucks since they couldn't wrap around the larger weapons. Wakka threw the ball into the air, then jumped into the air to kick it at Kyo. Seeing the attack, Kyo readied himself as the ball came towards him. Kyo swung his sword behind him, holding the wooden weapon like a bat. He waited for the Blitzball to get close enough, then swung, knocking the ball back at its owner. Wakka could only gasp in surprise before the ball connected head on with his face, knocking him onto the ground. Wakka sat up on the ground, holding his nose where blood was now freely flowing from. Dante turned momentarily, offhandedly blocked another strike from Tidus, kicking him back. The young islander jumped into the air, using the same attack Sora had used against Dante during their match. Dante side stepped as Tidus' weapon hit the ground. As he turned to strike, Dante blocked the attack, spinning his blade over Tidus' then jerked his wrist upwards, which resulted in the weapon being knocked from his hands. Dante swung, catching Tidus in the side, knocking him to the ground. Tidus rolled backwards, grabbing a hold of his weapon and jumping to his feet, only to be met by Cain swinging both his swords in a flurry of slashes. Tidus barely managed to roll to avoid the attack as Dante began blocking Wakka's Blitzball and hand to hand attacks. Kyoichi had began fighting Selphine, smirking as he deflected her weapons and countered each time she tried to remove his sword from his hands, even tossing her over his shoulder the one time her weapons actually wrapped around his sword. Dante sheathed his weapons in favor of hand to hand combat against Wakka. Wakka knew that trying another midair kick would only result in another hit to his face, so he instead kept to lower throws and the occasional round house or hook. Dante waited for the right opportunity, blocking Wakka's blows until he noticed that Wakka momentarily stumbled after a round house with his right foot. Dante watched as Wakka delivered another round house, ducking while readying for a sweep kick. When Wakka stumbled, Dante took his chance, knocking Wakka onto his back. Dante drew his dueling sword, pointing the tip at Wakka's throat, preventing him from attacking again.

" Alright, I give, I give." Wakka said, holding his hands in front of him. Dante watched as Selphine continued to try to attack Kyo, who had been avoided her attacks with little effort, almost dancing around her strikes. Dante knew that Kyo was waiting for her to tire out, another strategy to defeat an opponent. Kyoichi finally saw fatigue begin to set in Selphine, as he let her nun chuck wrap around his blade, using it to throw her over his shoulder. Selphine landed several feet away on her back, groaning from the painful landing. Dante walked over to Kyoichi, giving him a quick high five before seeing Cain's bo staff still in the ground. Smirking, he drew his Jian, swinging his sword at the weapon sticking into the ground, knocking it towards Cain. Cain dropped his swords into the ground, spinning to catch the weapon, blocking another blow from Tidus with his back turned. Kyoichi stepped back, watching Cain once again block Selphine's increasingly sluggish attacks. Cain backed up, allowing Kyoichi to knock one of Selphine's weapons out of her hands. She was still dangerous with her other weapon, catching Kyoichi in the face with one of the shafts, knocking him to the ground, rolling to avoid another strike that hit the ground next to him. Cain ran towards Selphine, using the staff like a pole vault to flip on top of the weapon, then dropping forward, using his momentum to slam the weapon down harder. Selphine blocked the weapon with her remaining nun chuck, gritting her teeth when the weapon hit her weapon's chain, hurting her hands. Cain flipped the front of the weapon backwards, catching Selphine right in thee stomach, knocking the wind out of her, knocking her to the ground once again, clutching her stomach in pain. When she looked up, she saw Cain and Kyo pointing their weapons at her chest. She let go of her weapon, conceding defeat. Dante and Tidus were now in a heated duel, sending attacks at each other with blinding speed. Dante saw Tidus bring his weapon down with another vertical slash, knocking the weapon from the islander's hand. Tidus threw a straight punch right at Dante, who caught it as Tidus delivered a kick, catching Dante in the sides, sending him rolling across the ground. Tidus grabbed his sword, delivering another swing as Dante was on the ground. Dante caught the blade between his fingers, holding it there as he brought his right leg up, kicking Tidus in side of the head, knocking him to the ground. Dante grabbed Tidus' weapon, pointing it at him as he held the side of his head.

" Ah, you win." Tidus said, appalled by the staggering defeat. Dante called to Cain, who grabbed a bag from next to Sora and Kairi, containing several potions, tossing one to Tidus and the others. Reluctantly, Tidus, Wakka and Selphine drank the potion, and after making faces over its bitter taste, noticed their wounds were healing.

" Some nice stuff you got there. Except for the taste of course." Tidus said.

" Yeah, it comes in one flavor. Terrible." Dante said with a laugh, holding out his hand. Tidus nodded, shaking his hand.

" That was amazing. You definitely can hold your own in a fight."

" Our traveling requires just that. Some of the places we've been to have been less that pleasant." Kyoichi said.

" We've been to a lot of different places. Our travels have been quite exciting." Dante said.

" Awesome. Well, we'll see you later, we've gotta go. See you later guys." Tidus said as he, Wakka and Tidus. As the rest began to walk down the beach, Sora walked up next to Dante, who was carrying his wooden swords over his shoulder.

" You've been to other worlds?" Sora asked.

" Of course. Shortly after you defeated Maleficent and people began returning to Radiant Garden, we managed, with Cid's help, to build a gummi ship of our own, The Crimson Fang. The one we came here in is an improvement upon our original design, the Crimson Fang mark III. Much bigger, but still sleek and dangerous enough to match the strength of the heartless. We actually defeated a fleet of heartless ships on the way here. It's actually large enough that it has enough room to store a second, smaller gummi ship inside for smaller missions. Dante built that one by himself." Cain said.

" The Falcon's Talon, small two man gummi ship. Smaller than the Fang, but still had a two pairs of laser cannons and two missile launchers mounted beneath the bow. Much more streamlined. I usually use it when I don't need them with me." Dante said.

" What happened to the first two?" Riku asked.

" The first was irreparably damaged during a test flight and never made it beyond its prototype stages, and the mark II was destroyed upon return to radiant garden shortly after the battle you guys participated in. We built this one rather recently. We had some specifications for the mark II that we were planning on adding before it was destroyed. Cid was pissed though. He reamed us out quite a bit. We somehow managed to persuade him to help us in the end though. I hate to think the amount of yelling we'd have to endure if we lost another gummi-ship. We've gotten pretty good, but Cid has the primary know how for some crucial components, thereby making him the person we need to see if anyone plans on building or modifying a gummi-ship.

" Wow. Now that I think about it, I wonder how the Highwind is doing."

" You stole the name of our raft and used it for your gummi ship? I'm disappointed in you, Sora. I thought you could be more original than that." Riku said.

" I didn't say it was a bad name, just a bad name for a raft." Sora retorted.

" Like you could've come up with anything better?" Riku asked.

" Enough, ladies. Come on, it's dinner time and i'm definitely hungry." Dante said. Dante, Cain and Kyo opted to stay at Sora's while they were there. Sora's mom, Haruka, was delighted to see that Sora had made some new friends. After a hearty meal, Dante, Kyoichi and Cain were allowed to sleep in the living room. The next morning, Sora and the others all met up back at the paopu tree, telling Sora, Riku and Kairi about some of their exploits and more training. Kairi was now becoming a much better fighter, taking Dante's advice on developing a fighting style of her own. She wasn't a pacifist, but she was still unsure about what she might have to do if she follows Sora and Riku on their journey. The night before they were set to leave, Sora, Riku and Kairi all wrote notes to their friends and families about where they were going, to put them at ease after what happened during Sora's first adventure. Dante and his friends decided to wander the beach before leaving, seeing some of the rudimentary supports and other structures erected by some of the people who lived on the island year round. At about noon, Dante, Cain & Kyo saw Sora and his friends walking from the small encampment of wooden shacks, each carrying a case with some extra clothing. After walking inside the Fang, Sora was amazed by the innovations and structure of the ship compared to the much smaller and more dog fight oriented Highwind. This ship was designed for both larger scale ship to ship warfare and passengers in mind. The ship also had a pair of ball turrets, mounted port and starboard near the center of the ship. The rooms on the ship weren't too big, but were functional enough to live in. The controls for the ship were also much more sophisticated and streamlined. There were six stations and a captain's chair, though only three stations were necessary to operate the ship. After quickly running over some of the basic controls, Sora and the others were strapped in for the ride. To avoid being spotted, they flew in cover of the sun, allowing them to travel without anyone being able to observe them too closely. Once in space, Dante activated the autopilot and unstrapped himself, wrapping his knuckles before leaning back in his chair, careful of the instrument panel he was leaning on.

" At our present speed, provided we don't encounter any unwelcomed surprises, we should be at Disney Castle in a few hours. Since i'm not too familiar with the area, i'm not going to chance a hyperspace jump. Our trip to radiant garden will be much faster. I suggest you guys go get some rest. I'll stay at the controls for now. I'll let you know if we encounter any hostiles." Dante said. Sora nodded, and he and the others proceeded towards the lounge, seeing a couple of small tables with bench seats and a nearby cabinet.

" We have some refreshments. Since we're usually not entertaining guests we don't have much in the way of entertainment. Usually exaggerated retellings of some of our more interesting exploits and the occasional bout of training are what we have to look forward to." Cain said, handing everyone a glass of apple cider, which everyone graciously accepted.

" Sounds sort of like the island. Other than exploring and my and Sora's challenges, we never really had much to do besides talk about our plans to leave the islands." Riku said. They spent a good couple hours talking about some of some of their personal experiences when

" Are you guys friends with Cloud and the rest of the restoration committee?" Sora asked.

" Good friends. We've known Cloud and the others for a long time. We've actually helped out with some the problems that occurred in some of the outlying regions before the Heartless problem." Kyoichi said.

" Speaking of, what happened to you and the others after the initial heartless attack?" Riku asked. Before anyone could respond, the ship's intercom beeped.

" We're just about there. You guys should come back to the bridge." Dante said. Minutes later, they touched down inside the Castle's gummi-ship hangar, where Mickey, Minnie, Donald, Daisy and Goofy were all waiting for them.

" Donald, Goofy, it's great to see you guys." Sora said, hugging them both.

" Gawrsh, Sora, we're glad to see you too." Goofy said.

" Dante, I see you managed to get to them without too much trouble." Mickey said.

" Correct. I do suggest that you have gummi-ships patrol the area regularly. We encountered a large amount of heartless beginning to blockade the world, but managed to repel the potential invasion force." Dante said.

" Don't worry, we'll have a patrol sweep the area daily. Sora, why don't you, Riku and Kairi go visit Flora, Fauna and Meriwether. I think you could do with some new clothes." Mickey said.

" Sure. Sound good guys?" Sora asked. Riku and Kairi nodded, and they followed Daisy to the wardrobe.

" Dante, I want you three to join me in my throne room. There's some issues I need to address." Mickey said, his face holding a much more serious expression.

" Yes King. Come on guys." Dante said. Once inside, they saw Mickey, Minnie, Donald, Goofy and the other knights of the castle, lined up along the long carpet.

" Dante, I know yours and your friend's predicament, but I need you to help Sora. This is too big a job for him alone." Mickey said.

" With all do respect, all you've done is tell me something I already know. Want to elaborate, your highness?" Dante asked.

" I have a secondary request for you. One I don't want Sora or his friend's finding out about. You've heard of Demyx and Axel?"

" Numbers 8 and 9 of organization XIII. Yeah, what about them?" Dante asked.

" They've gone missing. They're probably in hiding. It's widely known that Axel was a traitor to the organization, and Xemnas was probably less than pleased over Demyx's evident lack of determination and courage to fight Sora. I want you find them. They may have vital information we can utilize. That's my most likely assumption about their desertion, but there's more. Intelligence also indicates that Xemnas has been recruiting new members to the organization. I'm unsure as to the number, but i'm more than certain he's not only trying to replace the seats of Axel, Demyx and Roxas, but also to build up the strength of his forces. He knows he'll need more nobodies to strengthen his forces against our own. Maleficent has been doing the same, working with old allies as well as several new ones. I'm trying to do all that I can, recruiting warriors from the surrounding lands around radiant garden as well as transverse and twilight town. As you also know, we need to find more people with the talent to wield the keyblade. They'll be imperative in our mission. When everything is sorted out, Donald, Goofy and myself will join you. Our first destination is Radiant Garden. I want to see how the restoration committee had been doing finding warriors. From there we'll head to Twilight Town to search Ansem's files. We may be able to find out something from there. We'll have to play it by ear from there." Mickey said.

" I'm fine with all of this, your highness. But, I have one request." Dante asked.

" And what would that be?"

" I want you leave my nobody alone. I'm going to deal with him myself. I don't doubt yours or Sora's abilities, but I know he's far more skilled that either of you. I ask, that if we are to encounter him, i'm to be the only one to face him. He's me nobody, and my responsibility." Dante said.

" I accept your request. But, if we encounter him and it appears your about to lose, do not expect to sit back and let it happen." Mickey said.'

" Whatever you want. It's your funeral." Dante said, walking towards the doors.

" Hey, where are you going, the king isn't finished." Donald said.

" No Donald. Let him go. I know what he needs to do." Mickey said.

" Thank you, your excellency." Dante said. Cain and Kyoichi followed close behind.

" Wait in the courtyard. You know where I'm going." Dante said. He walked back to the hangar and onto the fang, heading towards its virtual reality simulator. It had been a function they'd developed with the help of radiant garden's AI, Tron. Dante and his friends had decided to use the room for training, fighting against the many heartless and nobodies programmed into its system. It also contained a failsafe mechanism to prevent any heartless from escaping should the ship take extensive damage. Dante walked to the control panel next to the door leading inside, programming in the number, type and strength of the heartless. He activated the timer and walked inside, closing the door behind him. When he heard the buzzer sound, the room went black. Seconds later, the room took on the look of deserted city, very similar to The World That Never Was. Dante counted down the seconds until the program began. When he heard a second buzzer sound, masses of darkness formed around Dante, erupting into scores of shadow heartless. Dante cracked his neck, getting into an offensive stance. The first group of heartless lunged, intent on capturing Dante's heart. Dante kicked the front most heartless into the air, grabbing it by one of the antennae on its head, swinging it into several more. A group of NeoShadows then appeared to assist the smaller shadows. Dante reared back his fist, connecting it with one of the shadows, knocking it into another of its ilk. Dante brought his hand up to his sword, drawing it with one swift motion, destroying a shadow that ventured too close. Dante brought the blade onto his shoulder, leaning forwards before streaking into the swarm of heartless, slicing several apart in seconds at dizzying speed.

" Fire!" Dante called, shooting the spell into his sword. Dante swung, the fire following a perfect arc, destroying any heartless unfortunate enough to come in contact with the attack. Dante began slicing apart the heartless, occasionally setting another group on fire with a well placed fire spell. Soon after the shadows disappeared. Seconds later, several dusk and sniper nobodies took the place of the inferior heartless. The dusks quickly surround Dante, using more tactics than the instinct driven heartless. Half of the nobodies surrounding him suddenly sprung forward, trying to take down Dante. They only succeeded in being destroyed by a single circular swipe of his sword. The sniper nobodies began firing, aiding the dusks in their attacks. Dante deflected the arrows with his sword or dodged them as they hit the dusks or impacted into the buildings. He jumped up into the air, summoning his keyblade. The snipers began firing several arrows into the air, trying to hit Dante. Dante began spinning in the air, deflecting the arrows back at their owners. Dante landed, and felt and incredible amount of power enter the area. A large pool of darkness appeared in the ground, several shadow and Neoshadow heartless emerging from it, followed by a Darkside. The giant heartless turned towards Dante, feeling the intense power of the keyblade.

" Finally, a real challenge." Dante said. Dante jumped into the air, dodging a wave of darkness launched from the creature. Several shadow heartless jumped for him, to be slashed apart as their hearts flew to the Darkside, increasing its power. Dante shot closer to it, sending a fire spell at the ground to prevent the heartless from jumping him as he let loose a flurry of slashes into its lower body. It reached down, grabbing him before tossing him into the air at one of the buildings. Dante gained control at the last second, landing against the side of the building as the Darkside fired a blast of dark energy from the heart shaped hole in its chest at the building. Dante began running down the side of the building, dodging the falling debris. He then jumped onto one of the larger pieces, running across it before jumping off, striking the Darkside in the face with his keyblade. It swatted Dante away with one hand while bringing its other one to the wound on its face. Healing the wound, It stabbed both hands into the ground, pulling out a large ball of dark energy, throwing it into the air, splitting into dozens of smaller but equally dangerous energy blasts. The blasts began falling down to earth at dangerously increasing speeds. Dante began a series of backflips and cartwheels to avoid the onslaught of energy blasts, eventually taking refuge in a small alleyway. When the attacks subsided, Dante emerged from the alleyway, rolling to avoid being crushed by the Darkside's large fist.

" Persistent son of a bitch." Dante said, pulling out a black charm with a red bird feather on it.

" Suzaku the Crimson Phoenix!" Dante called, throwing the charm into the air. Seconds later, the charm erupted into a large crimson red phoenix with golden feathers and designs as well as tail feathers resembling a fire.

" Suzaku, to me!" Dante called, jumping into the air. Suzaku flew to Dante, the latter landing on the Phoenix's back. The Phoenix and Dante dodged the Darkside's large energy blasts. Dante jumped off the majestic Phoenix, drawing his Keyblade, slicing at the gargantuan heartless several times before hitting the ground.

" Suzaku, Blazing Impact!" Dante called. The Crimson Gold phoenix flew high into the air, bursting into flames as it dove down, utilizing gravity to maximize its damage. The Darkside could only look on as the blazing phoenix crashed into it at full force, heavily damaging the shadowy mass.

" Time to take you down." Dante said, running towards the injured giant. He ran up its leg, stabbing his keyblade into its torso, running up while dragging the keyblade through the heartless. As Dante approached the head he swung up, kick springing off, resting his keyblade on his shoulder. Dante stomped his foot once, as the heartless split into two before disappearing into a large vortex of darkness. Dante readied his weapon for the next enemy he'd programmed for the set, when the simulation cut out. Dante saw Cain and Kyo in the window, ushering for him to come out.

" Nice battle in there. Your definitely a force to be reckoned with." Kyoichi said.

" I wasn't done, you know." Dante said.

" We know, but we wanted you to see Sora and his friends. Those fairies definitely know what they're doing when it comes to wardrobes." Cain said. Dante walked out of the gummi hangar and into the Courtyard, seeing Sora, Riku and Kairi in new clothing. Sora was wearing a black jacket with white stripes going the arms and sides as well as a pair of black cargo jeans with white crowns shaped like his necklace on the knees. He wore a pair of black hiking shoes and a white and black checkered wristband reminiscent of his nobody, Roxas. He also still had his crown necklace. Riku was wearing a black hoodie with the sleeves rolled up with the kanji for light and darkness in white on the back and a pair of navy blue pants with chains attached. He was wearing a pair of white shoes with black laces. He also had his hair cut somewhat shorter. Kairi was wearing a sleeveless white hoodie and beige Khaki pants with flared legs. Her hair was done up in a pony tail with a jade ring near the end of her hair and she also wore a pair of cosmic earrings.

" Those fairies obviously know what they're doing." Dante said.

" They did fairly well. They did insist on cutting Riku's hair though." Sora said.

" Can it. I liked my hair long." Riku said.

" You weren't very happy either, Kairi. Might I remind you how long it took you to convince those three not to put you in a dress." Riku said.

" That, from what I've heard from Merlin, happens to be their only weakness. Their indecisiveness." Dante said.

" That's for sure. I remember what happened last time." Sora said.

" Thankfully i'm fine with my own wardrobe." Dante said with a laugh.

" You three actually remind me of a cross between Leon and Cloud based on how you dress. With some slight variations." Sora said.

" Yeah. We've always had an affinity for darker clothing." Cain said.

" Well, since your used to your new clothes, I think its time for us to get moving." Mickey said, wearing the exact same outfit he wore under his short lived organization cloak. Donald and Goofy were also in the same clothing they wore on their previous adventures with Sora.

" What's our first destination?" Sora asked

" Radiant Garden." Dante said.

" We're going to meet up with the committee and see how everything's been going since the battle." Mickey said. Sora and the others nodded, and followed Dante to the fang. Once in orbit, Dante put the ship on autopilot and joined everyone else in the lounge.

" Dante, you and your friends have some serious talent. This gummi ship's one of the most sophisticated and innovative designs I've ever seen." Mickey said.

" Unlike our first two gummi-ships, we had to account for extra rooms and necessities to address the fact that we would be having extra passengers. It wasn't cheap either. We had to do quite the amount of odd jobs in order to pay Cid for the time he could've been spending working on restoration projects. Some of the components were also hard to come by. The prime grade shielding array and cannons. And the engines on this are also quite valuable. Good thing we didn't divulge these facts to Yuffie."

" Why not?" Sora asked.

" A few years ago, When Cloud first began his quest to defeat Sephiroth, he'd ventured to Yuffie's homeland of Wutai. Needless to say, Yuffie distracted him and stole his munny. She'd finally returned it after being chased around the city by Cloud. Yuffie knew the land well, but Cloud was too persistent to give up so easily. He managed to get her by grabbing her arm and swinging her around. Not many people know this, but she has terrible motion sickness. She wouldn't be able to stand flying in a gummi-ship for very long." Cain said. After a round of laughter, Sora asked about some of Cloud's other friends. Dante told him that his main friends were Aerith, Tifa, Barrett, Vincent and Cid. He'd befriended Leon shortly after Sora defeated Maleficent and Ansem, and had once been friends with a man named Zack, whose whereabouts were currently unknown. They also learned that only Leon was originally from Radiant Garden, while Cloud and the others hailed from other parts of the world. Dante even told them that he, Cain and Kyoichi were from Midgar, a large urbanized city a good distance away from Radiant Garden. It was still largely intact despite the collapse of one of the elevated districts and the attack from the heartless, which were recently repelled by the turks, a group of mercenaries that worked for the once great Shinra power company that was trying to exploit the power of the planet for its own purposes. Before they could continue speaking, the autopilot was slowing the ship down, indicating that they'd arrived at their destination. Once on the ground, Dante and the group walked into the larger part of town, seeing that the buildings were being repaired as well as a group of newer, more modern buildings in various states of completion. They then noticed Leon and a crew of construction workers emerge from a nearby truck that stopped in front of them.

" Hey, Leon." Sora called. Leon turned, said something quickly to one of the construction workers and walked over to the group.

" What's up everyone?" Leon asked.

" We're doing fine, Leon. How's the reconstruction going?" Mickey asked.

" It's going quite well, King. The castle is the only part of Hollow Bastion that needs anymore repairs. Maleficent really did a number on the place. It looks okay from the outside, but the inside still needs a lot of work. As you just saw, we're doing good on creating some new homes. Hollow Bastion's one of the safer areas right now. People are avoiding parts of Dalmasca and Midgar due to all the remnants of heartless still around as well as the local monsters. Things are still rather hectic, but far better than before." Leon said.

" That's good to hear. How about your search for volunteers?" Dante asked.

" Leon!" a female voice called out. Leon turned to see a teenage girl near tackle him in a glomp hug.

" Hey, Mikazuki!" Dante said. The girl, with red and yellow flame-like hair and emerald green eyes, turned towards the group smiling.

" Hi Dante, Kyoichi, Cain. How've you been?" She asked, still hugging Leon, despite his unenthusiastic expression.

" We're fine Mika. Let Leon go, we need to talk to him." Cain said.

" Your no fun." Mika pouted, letting go of Leon.

" I think we have opposing views on the topic of fun." Cain said.

" Anyways, everyone, this is Mikazuki."

" Hi. So are these three the ones you had to leave to get?" Mika asked.

" Yeah. This is Sora, Riku, and Kairi. Sora's the new keyblade master." Dante said.

" That's amazing. So this is the famous Sora I've heard so much about." Mika said,

" The one and only." Sora responded. The group suddenly heard screaming and shouting close by.

" That's near the bailey. Come on, we need to check it out." Leon said, followed by Dante, Sora and the others.

The World That Never Was:

A young man wearing a black hoodie with silver stripes on the arms, black jeans, boots and a straw hat covering his face walked down the street, hands in his pockets. As he walked into the city square, several pools of darkness appeared, revealing several shadow heartless. The young man sighed, reaching for the katana at his waist. He drew the weapon, revealing that it was a souba, a twin bladed katana. The man grasped the sword with both hands, seconds later pulling it apart, creating two separate weapons. He turned towards the feral creatures, going into a fighting stance. The first heartless jumped towards, being sliced in half before being able to complete its attack, a heart floating into the sky. Several more heartless jumped at their new adversary only to meet the same fate as their fallen comrade. More shadows continued to attack, unable to lay a hand upon the man. Neoshadows appeared to aid the shadows, one managing to knock one of the man's swords from his hand. The man cracked his neck and held out his now empty hand, summoning the Two Across keyblade. The shadows instantly attacked, as the man swing his sword, destroying them with a wave of dark energy created by the keyblade. The man continued to destroy any remaining heartless until the area was once again silent. He returned his keyblade, retrieved his sword and began to walk when the sound of someone clapping echoed. The man, held his hand to his sword, ready to strike down anyone foolish to confront him.

" It seems that you're quite strong. Not many can fight as elegantly as you." The newcomer said, his face hidden beneath the hood of his cloak.

" Whatever you're asking me, i'm not interested." The man said, slightly unsheathing his weapon.

" But for someone like you. A keyblader. You must listen before you make your choice." The cloaked individual stated.

" Fine." The man said.

" I know your potential. You could very effectively add to the strength of my organization." the cloaked man said, lowering his hood.

" I think I've heard of you. Xemnas, isn't it? I seem to recall the fact that your entire organization was defeated by two teenagers, a duck, a mutt and a filthy rat. What makes me think that I need you?" The man said, becoming annoyed.

" That's true, but I made sure that I will not make the same mistakes a second time. I also know that your not nearly as strong as you should be." Xemnas said.

" Why should you be concerned about this. What could I possibly gain from joining your so called 'Organization'?" The man retorted.

" I know you want to become whole. I also know that you need to defeat your other half to do so. Myself and the organization could help you in doing so." Xemnas said.

" Before I give me answer, I have a question. What's the catch?" The man asked.

" I only ask that I give you a name befitting of you." Xemnas said.

" It seems like a good idea. I'll join. But, I play by my rules. Don't be surprised if I wander." The man said.

" Not at all. Now, for your name." Xemnas said, the word 'Dante', appearing in front of him. Xemnas pondered for a moment, then rearranged the letters and added an X to the end.

" You are now Detrax, number XIII of the new organization." Xemnas said.

" Detrax. I like it." Detrax said, following Xemnas through a dark portal.

Radiant Garden:

" Over there." Leon said, brandishing his gun blade. The group saw a trio of armored knight heartless chasing a young woman, cornering her near the damaged gate. Before the heartless at the front could steal the woman's heart, Cain shot it in the back of the head, destroying it instantly. Kyoichi destroyed the other two with a pair of throwing knives while the rest of the group proceeded towards the woman.

" What happened?" Dante asked, helping the woman to her feet.

" Several heartless are appearing from the great maw. They've attacked some of the construction crews working on the castle. I'm unsure of their condition. They need help, quickly." The woman said.

" Don't worry, we'll handle it. Head into town, you'll be safer there. Come on guys, lets go." Dante said, drawing his sword. The others followed, proceeding towards the area specified by the distraught woman. Leon put his hand up to a headset mic, keeping an eye open for any threats.

" Yuffie, get over here now. We've got a major problem. Assemble anyone else you can. We've got heartless swarming the great maw. They made it as far as the bailey before we halted their advance. We'll hold them back but we're gonna need additional support to do any significant damage. Leon out." Leon said, slicing apart a shadow heartless that tried to ambush him while he was distracted.

" Looks like we're dealing with shadows, soldiers, armored knights and samurai." Cain said.

" Samurai heartless?" Sora said, perplexed.

" They're the counterparts of the samurai nobodies. They've only began appearing recently." Kyoichi said.

" Shall we?" Dante asked as he jumped into the swarm of heartless, clearing a spot to land by using a fire spell to dispel any nearby enemies, Cain and Kyoichi close behind.

" Mickey, you, Donald and Goofy head back to the bailey and keep any heartless from making into the town. We'll take the fight to them." Leon said. The king nodded, as he and his longtime friends proceeded back to the bailey.

" Lets go." Leon said, jumping down to join the fighting. Sora, Riku and Kairi followed suit moments later, landing in a spot cleared for them by Dante, who was busy slicing apart heartless. They saw that he showed almost no effort with every enemy defeated, concentrating on his next each time. Cain skillfully juggled enemies with his massive sword and finished them with timed shots from his sidearm. Kyoichi knocked back heartless with ease using his bare hands, before opting to use his twin swords sheathed on his waist, connecting them at the bottoms of the handles, creating a double sided weapon which further increased the amount of damage he caused. Dante was suddenly surrounded by over a dozen samurai heartless. Dante summoned his keyblade, waiting for the heartless to attack. The first enemy stepped forward, both katanas drawn, and streaked towards Dante. Dante stabbed his sword through the unlucky heartless, then held it in front of him as two more attacked, destroying their comrade instead of the keyblader. Dante jumped into the air, spinning both his weapons momentarily before tossing both of them into the mob of heartless, slicing droves of the apart. The blades also saved Kairi, who was moments away from being ambushed by a soldier heartless. As Dante was about to slay another heartless, a beam of light shot past him, taking down the heartless he was ready to destroy. Dante looked at the heartless, seeing an arrow made out of light embedded in its chest before disappearing. He turned, seeing a woman around his age with a crossbow with a man about the same next to her. The girl put her ranged weapon away in favor of a pair of Chakrams while the man beside her summoned a keyblade. Both jumped down into the fray, slicing apart heartless as they touched ground. The male jumped into the air before transforming into a large, russet colored wolf, carrying the man's keyblade in its mouth, using its tremendous speed to destroy any heartless caught in his tirade. The woman fought with her Chakrams in a style very similar to that of Axel, despite less erratic and more controlled than that of the flame-wielding nobody. The man turned back to normal, running up to Dante, taking down a nearby heartless with a swipe from his mystical weapon.

" How ya doing? Name's Jacob Black. Call me Jake or Night Wolf. How about you." the man asked, grabbing a samurai heartless by the head and slamming it into the ground until it disappeared.

" Dante Kousume. Call me nothing other than Dante, and fine, by the way. Duck!" Dante said, stabbing his sword through another heartless that was behind the russet skinned teen.

" Thanks. We heard the screams and decided to help you guys out. We're on call for the committee." Jake said.

" Good to hear. That Akaya person seems to knows what she's doing, I'll give her that." Dante said.

" I met up with her soon after I joined the committee. She's pretty cool. Shy, but she's smart." Jake said. Dante batted a soldier heartless into the air with his sword and finished it off with a slash from his keyblade and jumped back to avoid the attack of an armored knight.

" Enough chatter for now. Lets kick some more ass." Dante said. Internally, he analyzed the battlefield and made a disheartening assumption.

" Even if we continue at our pace right now, without some well needed reinforcements we'll eventually be overrun." Dante though, hacking his way through another dozen shadows to meet up with Sora and Riku, whom were fighting back to back against a drove of armored knight heartless.

" Look who decided to join the party." Sora said.

" Enough crap. We need to hold them back for a small while longer, Yuffie's taking longer than expected. We need her and whoever she's bringing with her to make any significant impact on the situation here." Dante said, spinning his blades to impale a pair of heartless behind him.

" Dante!" Cain called, carving a path to his friend through the heartless droves.

" What is it?"

" Maybe we should break out some summons, temporary reinforcements." Cain asked.

" Not a bad idea. Kyoichi, get over here!" Dante said, shooting a fire spell to incinerate another group of heartless.

" What is it?" Kyoichi asked, holding his foot over a heartless.

" Stop fooling around and get ready. We're calling in some reinforcements. Old school." Dante said. Kyoichi grinned and pressed his foot down violently, crushing the unlucky soldier heartless. The three each pulled an object from their pockets. Cain's charm had the shape of a wolf's head in dark crimson. Dante's had the image of three white claw marks and Kyoichi's had three black wind crescents getting larger from left to right.

" Sidoh the great wolf." Cain called, tossing the charm into the air. The charm glowed gold, then became enveloped in golden light. Moments later, a large black and gray wolf with black tribal markings appeared, walking over to its master.

" Byakko the white tiger, protector of the west." Dante called, tossing the charm to his left. The charm glowed then became enveloped in white light. There was then a loud roar as a large white tiger appeared, crushing a pair of heartless beneath its large paws.

" Kurotsuki, the flying fox." Kyoichi called, tossing the charm forward. It became enveloped in swirling winds, bringing forth a large black and red fox with dragon like wings on its back. It snarled at the nearby heartless, black wind emanating from the wind being pushed by the fox's wings.

" Amazing." Sora, Riku and Kairi all ushered in unison before remembering that they were in the middle of a battle.

" Sora, don't you have any summons?" Riku asked.

" I used to, but my summon charms disappeared after our battle with Xemnas." Sora responded, destroying a group of shadows with a Thundara spell.

" Sidoh, tear these guys apart." Cain said, allowing his wolf to run wild, tearing part any heartless in its field of vision. Dante watched his tiger pounce upon a large body heartless, destroying it in a plume of black smoke. Byakko began to tear through the heartless, batting several into the air which were destroyed by Dante's fireballs and Akaya's light arrows.

" Kurotsuki, wind burst." Kyoichi called. The fox nodded, waving its wings violently at the heartless, catching a group of shadows and armored knights in a black laced wind tornado. Cain followed his summon beast, taking down the heartless missed by the large wolf. He walked over to Dante, shooting one on his left.

" Looks like we're doing good." Cain said.

" They _are_ thinning, but we need some more assistance to push them back for good. And think, everyone is starting to tire. Even us. We're not used to such continuous battle." Dante said.

" Your right. Do you think they won't be able to get here in time?" Cain asked.

" I'm not sure. If not, i'm taking as many of the bastards with me as I can." Dante said, running back into the fray.

" Count me in." Cain said, joining his friend.

" Where were you two?" Kyoichi asked, slicing apart another heartless with Blackmoon.

" What, we can't have a good momentary chat in the middle of a large scale battle?" Dante asked.

" No!"

" Fine, be that way." Dante retorted, kicking out an armored knight's leg. Before he could cut it down, a hail of gunfire enveloped the armored knight as well as several nearby heartless. Dante turned, hearing the sound of a motorcycle. He jumped up to see Cloud with his buster sword, First Tsurugi, slicing apart heartless as he tore through them on his motorcycle, the Fenrir. Seconds later he also saw a dark skinned man with three Gatling guns on his arm and a near pale-white man in a red cloak firing a large triple barreled revolver.

" Looks like the cavalry's arrived. About damn time." Dante said. Before he could address his comrades, a weapon flew past Dante, taking down several heartless as it passed. He followed the weapon with his eye, seeing it fly towards Yuffie. Dante joined up with Sora, Riku and Kairi, who were taking advantage of the momentary pause in the battle.

" I see help's arrived. I see that Cloud and Yuffie are here, but what about the other two?" Sora asked.

" The large guy with the prosthetic arm is Barrett Wallace. The quiet one in red with the revolver is Vincent Valentine. Both good friends of Cloud and the others." Dante answered. He then noticed an armored knight behind Kairi, poised to strike. Dante pulled Kairi down, grabbing the heartless' blade between his fingers.

" I don't think so." Dante commanded, pulling the heartless forward, impaling it on his sword.

" Thanks. I didn't see it." Kairi said.

" Don't worry about it. It happens." Dante responded.

" Dante. Long time no see." Dante heard behind him.

" I could say the same about you, Cloud."

" It's been nice to release some pent up energy. Though I wish we'd met under much better circumstances." Cloud answered, sheathing his weapon.

" Well, before we engage in any witty banter, maybe we should go check out the castle." Dante said. Once at the postern, they walked through the underground tunnels, eliminating a few stray heartless before walking into Ansem's study.

" It looks to be clear." Leon said, resting his gun blade on his shoulder.

" Looks can be deceiving." Dante replied, walking into Ansem's lab. Dante walked over to the computer, checking for anything of use. After many minutes of no success, Dante was about to give up when he stumbled across a hidden file.

" This was written only a week ago." Dante said as he began to read the file.

" _This is a message to any who may find this. This is Ansem the Wise. Despite my attempt to encode Kingdom Hearts into data, I failed horribly. I left to hide my shame from my close friend, King Mickey. To make up for my previous actions, I've decided to do some traveling to oppose the actions of organization XIII and Maleficent. I can't believe that all this trouble was caused by the actions of my former apprentice. Unlike him I realized the wrongdoings delving into the mysteries of the heart would cause. I ask that you continue to fight the heartless and nobodies, and keep the worlds from falling into darkness. Also, should King Mickey come across this, I apologize for my actions and disappearance. I hope I can live to seek your forgiveness. Please take heed. I have a feeling that the organization and Maleficent aren't our only adversaries."_

" I thought Ansem had been destroyed by the explosion of the kingdom hearts encoder." Riku asked.

" Apparently not. I wonder what he means by other adversaries." Dante pondered.

" In any case, we need to stop maleficent and the organization." Mickey said.

" Right. Though I want to see Merlin right now." Dante said, walking back into the underground passage.

_Well, that was a good few months I wasted before I finally finished. Things have been rather sluggish since I got LIVE and I've also been reading a lot of other fanfics. I'm gonna start trying to get further in my revisions. Stay tuned for the updated Chapter 3: Divergent Paths._


	3. Chapter 3: Divergent Paths

_Just a reminder, all people wanting to add a new OC must read and follow the guideline presented. Can't wait to finish updating & revising and begin cranking out new chapters_.

Chapter 3: Divergent Paths

After walking to Merlin's house, the official headquarters of the restoration committee, They walked inside, seeing Merlin looking through a spell book as Cid Highwind was at the computer in far corner. They also saw Aerith inside, sitting in a chair nearby.

" Hey everyone." Sora said.

" Well look who it is, the keyblade master himself. Good to see you kid, how are ya?" Cid asked, turning from his workstation.

" I'm doing ok. How about you Merlin?" Sora asked.

" I'm fine as well. I've noticed you've brought some company." Merlin said, referring to the group of people.

" Merlin, don't tell me you've forgotten my already?" Dante said.

" Ah, don't worry yourself Dante, I haven't forgotten you or your friends. Speaking of, I see you've gained a few more." Merlin said, referring to the newbies Kairi and Riku.

" Yep. These are my close friends, Riku and Kairi, and our new friends, Mikazuki, Jake and Akaya." Sora said.

" It's good to see all of you. Sora, I've been wanting to ask you something. Have you noticed anything strange lately?" Merlin said.

" No, not that I've noticed. Why?" Sora responded.

" No reason. It's just been a bit hectic around here." Merlin said.

" Hey Merlin, have you seen anyone or anything out of the ordinary lately?" Dante asked

" No, other than the occasional heartless attack, plus your fight today." Merlin said.

"Yeah. Thanks anyway, I'm gonna take a walk." Dante said, leaving the house as the rest of the group lounged inside. Mickey, Leon and Merlin walked into Merlin's back room, away from the others.

" Well King, what is it that you have to tell us?" Leon asked.

" Where are you and Sora heading to first?" Merlin asked.

" We'll be going to Twilight Town first. I need to speak with Yen Sid before we get started. I'm going to get him to protect my castle while i'm away. The castle and radiant garden are too valuable to loose. That's why I want them protected the most. These are proving to be dark times. Hopefully we can keep potential casualties to a minimum." Mickey said.

" Agreed. We'll keep everything tied down here on our end. We've been getting together anyone willing to fight to keep our world safe. We've been finding a lot of volunteers from Dalmasca, Midgar and many other outlying settlements. Many people want to make up for what happened to our homes when these attacks began and prevent them from doing so again." Leon said.

" As always, you'll have my continued support." Merlin said.

" Thank you. Lets head back out. This may be our only downtime for awhile. We might as well enjoy it." Mickey said. Dante, after leaving Merlin's home, had traveled to the area where only a few months ago had been crawling with literally thousands of heartless and nobodies. He stopped for a moment, when a sword embedded itself into the ground in front of him. He took a look at the blade, recognizing the designs inscribed on the blade. From the blade to the hilt, in order, a dragon, a tiger, a phoenix and a turtle.

" You realize that this is starting to get old, right?" Dante yelled. Seconds later, a man in an organization cloak with a straw hat appeared next to the weapon, pulling it from the ground.

" But I feel that it's good to pop in unexpectedly. Keeps things interesting, don't you think?" the cloaked man said.

" Even from my own Nobody, that's still bullshit."

" I have a name, cretin. It's Detrax." The nobody proclaimed,

" Detrax then, I used to think of you as a pain in the ass. Now you're a pain in the ass working for an even larger pain in the ass. Though I'm sort of glad you threw in with that pathetic lot. Makes my life easier. Helps me deal with your bullshit." Dante said, having Detrax's Souba pointed just inches from his face.

" I'd watch your words. I can easily go after your friends. I know they wouldn't put up nearly as much of a fight." Detrax said. Dante knocked his nobody's sword away with his own.

" I know that's not how you play. Since your here, why don't you give me a well deserved workout?" Dante said, holding his sword at his nobody. Detrax smirked, and summoned his Two Across Keyblade.

" If you wish." Detrax said. Dante summoned his own keyblade, swiping his sword to his nobody's left, who parried the blow and returned with one of his own.

" Leon, it looks like those organization bastards are at it again." Cid said.

" Where are they?" Leon responded.

" They're in the great maw. It looks like there's just one. Whoever it is, they're quite powerful." Cid said.

" Sora. You, Riku, Kyoichi and Cain should head there immediately. The rest of us will wait here in case the organization had any other tricks up their sleeve." Leon said. Everyone nodded as Sora's group proceeded towards the maw. Dante kept up his attack on his nobody, constantly switching between close and long range attacks, though every move was met by a counter attack by his nobody. After parrying another swipe from Detrax's souba, Dante grabbed a charm from his pocket with the symbol of a tiger's claw.

" Byakko the white tiger!" Dante called throwing the charm into the air as his summon beast appeared, letting out a ferocious roar. It jumped above Dante's nobody, watching as the summoned tiger pounced down, lashing out with its razor sharp claws. Detrax just barely managed to dodge the attack, having a small portion of his organization cloak torn. Detrax swung his sword, sending a wave of darkness straight for the animal. The animal gracefully dodged the strike as Dante appeared behind Detrax, bringing his sword down to take advantage of his nobody's momentary distraction. Offhandedly, the nobody swung his keyblade behind his back, deflecting the attack. Dante swung his sword again, horizontally, using his momentum in a spin to add extra power to his attack. Detrax blocked this, but felt contact as the momentum caused Dante to spin again, striking his arm with his keyblade. The blow knocked Detrax back, who observed the damage to his arm. He rolled up his sleeve, revealing a heavily cracked armlet.

" You almost had me their. That was clever, using your momentum to execute powerful attacks in quick succession. Luckily, I always come prepared." Detrax said, discarding the now useless piece of armor. Dante growled, recalled his summon beast, then swung diagonally, once again spinning to unleash a flurry of blows, each blocked by Detrax's sword. After seven rotations, Detrax caught Dante's sword with his own, pushing back with enough force to knock Dante, who rolled backwards, springing to his feet. Dante tossed his sword momentarily in the air, seconds later catching the weapon by the handle like a spear. He then threw it as hard as his body would allow, straight towards Detrax. His nobody merely smirked, leaning slightly to the left as the blade flew right past where his head had been moments ago. Dante followed his thrown weapon, swinging the blade up as he passed Detrax who spun to avoid the maneuver. Dante grabbed his weapon and turned, just to dodge another strike from Detrax, then kneed him in the stomach, knocking the wind out of him as he swiped, catching his arm. Dante skidded back a few feet, seeing blood pour from the fresh wound.

" Face it. We could do this a thousand times over, and every single time I could kick your ass to Agrabah and back without so much as breaking a sweat. You've got talent, but it'll only take you so far." Detrax said. Dante streaked towards him, locking swords with him.

" Your right. Talent does only take you so far. But I have something you don't. Creativity." Dante said, shooting a fireball at Detrax, who spun with sword, the blade cutting the magic attack in half. Detrax then saw Dante pulling his sword behind his head. Seconds later, he swung the weapon, throwing it as it began to pick up speed. Detrax rolled to dodged the spinning blade which, like a boomerang, returned to Dante, who caught it, just in time to block an attack from Detrax from behind. Dante knocked his arm upwards, striking Detrax with an open palm in his chest, sending him skidding backwards.

" Dante!" Sora called out. Dante turned, seeing Sora, Riku, Cain and Kyoichi emerging from the crystal fissure. Detrax, taking advantage of his opponent's distraction, shot towards him. Before Dante could counter, Detrax swung his sword, catching Dante on his shoulder, leaving a pair of deep gashes. Dante swung around, swinging his sword with enough force to push Detrax back a few feet as the nobody blocked the attack.

" Dante, are you alright?" Sora called.

" I'm fine, Just get outta here!" Dante yelled back. Detrax maneuvered himself behind Dante, dealing another blow, leaving a welling gash diagonally down Dante's back. Deciding that enough was enough, Sora and company sprang into action. Kyoichi knocked back Detrax while Riku followed up, dueling with him as Cain and Sora helped Dante to his feet.

" Dante, you dumb ass, one of these days your gonna get yourself killed." Cain said. Dante downed a potion given to him by Sora, stopping the bleeding and closing his wounds.

" Thanks for the help, but I'm kinda busy." Dante said, knocking Riku and Kyoichi out of the way, swinging his sword at Detrax. Dante stopped, standing still as Detrax stopped a fair distance away from him.

" It looks like I've overstayed my welcome. 'till next time Dante." Detrax said, disappearing through a corridor of darkness.

" Hey Dante, looks like we won. Dante?" Sora said, walking over to him. When Sora walked in front of him, he noticed Dante's eyes had turned pitch black with yellow irises.

" What's going on?" Sora asked.

" Looks like it's time to play." Dante said, his voice slightly raspy and sadistic. He rose his head slightly before hitting Sora full on with an open palm, sending him flying back several feet before he hit the ground.

" Not this shit again!" Cain said, running over to Dante to punch him. Dante turned, kicking Cain's leg out from under him before punching him in the stomach, knocking him away. Kyoichi, tried to trap him in ninja wire, only for Dante to grab the wire and swing Kyoichi, who was still holding the wire, around violently, making him crash into Riku and Cain.

" What the hell's going on? One second Dante's fighting a member of the organization, the next his eyes change colors and he starts attacking us." Riku yelled, dodging a blast of dark fire from Dante

" Lets get him under control and then we'll explain." Kyoichi said, still slightly disoriented after being swung around.

" Blizzard." Cain called, freezing Dante's leg. He merely grabbed his sword, shattering the ice encasing his foot. He gripped his sword with both hands and swung, firing waves of dark fire. The group dodged, when a red beam of energy struck the ground where Dante was standing. They saw a person wearing an organization cloak, a pair of saw blades with intricate designs on her belt. Dante wiped the dust off his clothes, giving the person a look of pure hatred.

" Another fool wants to play. Feel free to oblige." Dante said, shooting another wave of dark fire at the cloaked individual. The cloaked person did a series of backflips to dodge the fire before equipping their saw blades. The blades suddenly became linked by a rope made out of an energy like substance, changing colors like a shimmering crystal. The person threw one of the blades, spinning it at a deadly speed towards Dante. He leaned back far enough to dodge, as the person fired another beam, this time a light green, at Dante, catching him off guard. Dante slowly got to his feet, his eyes changing back momentarily before becoming black and yellow again.

" Whoops, almost slipped." Dante said, jumping to his feet. He then saw the person's saw blades, now emitting a stream of water, wrap around him.

" Engulf!" The cloaked person, a woman by the voice, called. The blades embedded themselves into the ground as the water tail fully engulfed him in a large sphere of water.

" What're you doing?" Kyoichi said.

" Thunder!" The woman called, sending the spell into the water sphere. They saw Dante convulse violently as the spell hit, the lightning gaining power from coursing through the water. When Dante stopped moving the woman recalled her blades and watched as the sphere of water fall to the ground, followed by Dante. Kyoichi and Cain ran over, checking his vitals.

" He's unconscious." Cain said. They checked his eyes, seeing that they were now once again their regular ice cold blue.

" He's back to normal. For now." Kyoichi said.

" Is he going to be okay?" The woman asked.

" You fry him with electricity in an orb made of water and ask if he's gonna be okay? Your a piece of work." Kyoichi said.

" Just answer the question!" The woman shot back.

" If you must know, he will. He's gonna need a pick me up though." Cain said, giving Dante a potion. Seconds later, he coughed up water, sitting up.

" Uh, feel like I got hit by a truck." Dante said, his voice back to normal.

" Not too far off. It took control again." Cain said.

" Really? Ah shit."

" This chick had to do a real number on you. She's definitely got some skills." Kyoichi said, referring to the cloaked woman.

" Before we say anything else, might I ask your name?" Dante asked.

" Rainx. I prefer to be called Rain." She said as she lowered her hood, revealing her long light blonde hair and ocean blue eyes.

" So your a nobody?" Dante asked, standing up.

" Yes." Rain responded.

" Wasn't expecting that. You don't seem to be with the organization." Dante said

" You'd be right. I only wear this because it was given to me by my father." Rain replied solemnly.

" I see."

" Now that everything's calmed down, mind explaining who that nobody was as well as what happened just now?" Riku said.

" Well, you were bound to find out sooner or later. You see, when radiant garden fell, some of the people had been captured for experimentation by the heartless. As you can probably guess, I'd been one of those captured. I can still remember every moment. All the experiments, the torture. I'm surprised it didn't drive me to insanity. Then again, it proved I was strong willed, and they saw that I could prove more fruitful to their research. As the researchers became heartless, my nobody came into existence. I'd disappeared into the darkness of the planet for a while, until you defeated Maleficent. I returned to normal as everyone returned, but the darkness had only gone dormant. If I'm not fighting for an extended period of time or I take too much damage, it becomes restless. I guess all that's been happening became too good for that beast to resist. As for _him_, my nobody first appeared the day before we were scheduled to leave in the Crimson fang MK II, about a couple months ago. He stole my favorite weapon, a souba that could split into a pair of katanas. I've been trying to defeat him ever since to get it back. That weapon was a gift from my father. He was a master weapon smith, crafting everything from firearms to daggers. After an accident during an attack on Midgar a few years before the heartless outbreak, he'd lost the use of his legs. He'd given me the sword as a gift. He'd also helped me forge Resonant Fang." Dante explained. He got to his feet, walking away from the group.

" Dante, where are you going?" Kyoichi asked.

" Need to get some air." He replied. Rain followed him, despite his attempts to lose her. Once in the bailey, he sighed and turned to face the woman.

" Fine, I've stopped. What do you want?" Dante asked.

" I have a proposition for you. I want you to help me find my father, Demyx, and his friend Axel." Rain replied, arms crossed.

" Two things. One, why should I help you? Two, how should I know where to find them?" Dante retorted, becoming increasingly annoyed by Rain's presence.

" You know your way around the most likely worlds they've fled to. As for why, I could aid you in defeating your nobody." Rain said.

" No offense, because you do appear to be quite strong. But, I highly doubt that you could defeat my nobody.

" I beat you didn't I?" Rain shot back.

" My darkness maybe. But that was merely instinct. I'll tell you now that both Detrax and myself are far stronger, and much more cunning." Dante said.

" Try me." She replied curtly.

" How about this. You prove you can hold your own against me, I'll help you. If you lose, you and everyone else leaves me alone. Do you accept the terms of the challenge?"

" Let me think about it." She said, crossing her arms again. Moments later, she turned around, walked a few steps away and threw one of her saw blades and Dante, who leaned back to avoid the attack. Dante grabbed the psychic energy tethered to the blade, smoke rising from his hands. Dante managed to grab the blade, sending it back at her with twice the power. She caught the weapon, flipping backwards to dodge a swipe from Dante's sword.

" I wouldn't try that again." Rain said, holding the saw blade by the energy tether. Dante showed his hands, the gloves he was wearing unscathed.

" Crafted from demon hide. Durable, and fire proof." Dante said, firing a fireball at her. She countered with a blizzard spell, the two spells enveloping the area in steam. Dante closed his eyes, listening for Rain's attack. He heard the blade spinning towards him, making a distinctive noise. Dante rolled to dodge and threw his sword. The spinning sword dissipated the steam, revealing Rain trying to get her saw blade unstuck from the wall, pinned by Dante's sword.

" You haven't fought blind before, have you." Dante said with a smirk.

" Shut up." She said, throwing her other saw blade, scoring a slice across Dante's cheek.

" Of course she aims for the face." He though, wiping the blood away as he summoned his keyblade. He dodged the weapon on the return trip, knocking it back at her. She caught the weapon, though it sliced into her palm. She kicked Dante's sword still embedded into the wall, managing to knock it free and retrieve her other weapon. Dante grabbed his blade, knocking away each of Rain's attack.

" You know. It's not. Polite. To harm. A Person's. Face." Dante said, knocking her saw blades back with every other word. She threw the both of them, having them come from two opposite directions to catch him off guard. What she didn't expect was for him to drop his own weapons, catching hers. He got a good grip and pulled violently, pulling Rain from where she was standing. She flew towards him, getting hit by a drop kick aimed at her stomach, knocking the wind out of her. She fell to the ground in pain, rubbing her hand over what was probably a cracked rib. Before she could get to her feet, Dante placed his foot on her stomach, holding his keyblade inches from her neck.

" Looks like I win." Dante said with a smirk. He reached into his pack on his waist as he helped Rain to her feet. He pulled out a potion, giving it to the injured nobody.

" Thank you. I guess I'll be leaving then." Rain said, beginning to walk away.

" Hold up. I've just been going through some crap that I got thrown at me. I didn't necessarily ask to leave my home to go help Sora and the others, but Leon insisted. That, and I still owed him a favor. He figured this was the perfect opportunity to pay him back, with interest. I've been thinking as we fought, maybe helping you wouldn't be such a bad idea. I'll help you. But on my terms. There's a few places I want to stop at on the way. Maybe we'll have a stroke of luck along with way."

" Thank you. I only have one question. How are we going to aid Sora and search for Axel and Demyx?" Rain asked.

" I have a second gummi-ship. We'll take that." Dante said, motioning for her to follow.

" I have to add this, before we leave. I'm not fully a nobody. I inheireted it from my mother."

" Where is she now?" Dante asked.

" She's gone. The Organization killed her and threatened to do the same to me to keep my father in line." Rain replied, almost appearing to be on the verge of tears.

" I'm sorry for your loss. Don't worry, I'm gonna help your find your father." Dante said.

" Thank you. You seem so cheerful, even though your nobody is on the loose."

" When you've had a life like I've had, you learn to try and enjoy everything you can." Dante replied, the gummi-ship now in view. Dante saw nobody around, and the two walked on board.

" Here it is, the Falcon's Talon." Dante said.

" I hope you can pilot that thing. I unfortunately cannot pilot a gummi-ship." Rain said.

" Then it's a good thing I'm going to teach you. It'll come in handy. I can't pilot that thing all the time, I need sleep too." Dante replied with a slight chuckle. He grabbed a pad of paper and a pen, writing a quick message before sticking to the door of his room.

" Lets go." Dante said, as he and Rain boarded his gummi-ship. Minutes later, the ship was out of orbit, the planet he'd grown up on becoming a speck in the distance.

" It's hard to leave home, isn't it." Rain said

" It is, but knowing that leaving will help to bring peace when I return makes it much easier to bear." Dante said, a tear leaking down his cheek, which went unnoticed by the half nobody.

" Hey guys, have any of you seen Dante? We haven't see him since his nobody attacked." Sora asked.

" I don't know." Kyoichi said, laying on one of Merlin's sofas, sharpening one of his kunai knives.

" Guys, you have to see this." Cain said, showing them a note.

" _I apologize in advance by not coming to see any of you before leaving, but it would've been harder to leave if I had. Rain and I are traveling on our own to find a couple people. I'll let you know if we come across any worlds that need help that we can't deal with. Until then, stay safe. I needed to leave, I had to get away from everything. Rain gave me a good excuse to. I'll be back soon, before we finally take on Maleficent and the Organization._

_Your Friend and Ally, Dante."_

" Why did he just leave? We need his help." Sora said, stunned.

" Remember how he wanted to be alone? He despises that thing you saw earlier. I think he left not only to help that girl, but to prevent himself from harming us again." Cain said, putting the note into a pocket inside his coat.

" He knows that he can trust us. That's why he didn't need to see us. The last thing we want to do is betray his trust. Well Sora, lets go. We need to get going." Kyoichi said, getting up from the sofa.

" Well then, lets get to Twilight Town." Cain said.

_Woot, i'm finally getting back into the groove of things. Keep an eye out for more revisions and hopefully soon new chapters for my stories and stat turned for the revised chapter four, Crash Course._


	4. Chapter 4: Crash Course

_Yeah baby, i'm back again. I'm proud to say that I've been doing well revising these chapters and hope for all my stories that I can eventually begin to write more. For now, enjoy the fruits of my labor thus far. A/N: Dante arrives in a slightly different take on the day before Episode 110/Chapter 183. Also, remember that Bleach belongs to Tite Kubo. Kingdom Hearts, Final Fantasy belong to Square Enix. Mickey Mouse & Co. belong to Disney. Dante, Cain and Kyoichi belong to me. Finally, thanks to the people from the Bleach Wiki for information on certain things._

Chapter 4: Crash Course

After discovering that Dante had left for parts unknown, at least to them, Sora and the others decided it was the best course of action to continue on and travel to Twilight town. From there they could check for any signs of the heartless and nobodies as well as travel to the tower to speak with Yen Sid. Riku also proposed searching for Ansem's lab in the basement of the abandoned mansion. The Crimson Fang was currently in hyperspace, while the passengers conversed in the lounge.

" So who should we get in touch with first?" Riku asked.

" I think we should go see Hayner, Pence and Olette. They should be at the usual spot. It's their personal hang out." Sora responded.

" That sounds good. I haven't known them very long but they seem to be very good friends." Kairi said.

" I suggest that everyone strap in, things are gonna get crazy out here. Riku, Sora, get to the bridge, ASAP." Cain said over the intercom. Moments later, the two walked onto the bridge, seeing the large fleet of gummi-ships, bearing the insignia of the heartless.

" Sora, Riku, get into the turrets, we're gonna need the extra firepower." Kyoichi said, referring to a pair of twin barreled laser cannons mounted on the top and bottom right behind the bridge. Riku climbed into the lower gun while Sora strapped himself into the seat of the top one. He saw a basic tutorial program show up on the frontal display, showing him how to move the turret and fire. A minute later, Riku and Sora indicated that they were ready.

" We're gonna flank them east of their position. If you manage to get any of the larger ships in range fire for their engines, that's the weakest possible spot to hit." Cain said as he maneuvered the ship for their attack run. Cain made sure the combat systems were ready, and activated the comm.

" Weapons free, open fire!" He called, firing several bursts from the ship's forward firing guns. Riku's gun spat green lasers in quick succession at the smaller heartless at their flanks while Sora strafed the closest dreadnaught with his own cannon. Kyoichi eyed all the screens carefully, keeping an eye on the shields, power output, life support and other systems, calibrating the power between them and monitoring for any sudden changes, leaving Cain to pilot the ship and attack any enemies in his sights. Sora and Riku were also aided by two pairs of smaller turrets controlled by the ship's AI, targeting and attacking any enemy vessel that ventured too close. Cain turned the ship into a barrel roll to avoid large energy blasts from a heartless destroyer, spitting deadly red and black beams of energy at the keybladers gummi-ship. Cain fired another burst of laser fire, quickly followed up by a salvo of rockets. The lasers impacted against the shield of a heartless battle cruiser before being followed by the missiles. When the smoke cleared, they noticed black charred armor.

" Sora, Riku, aim for the weakened section of this cruiser." Cain said into the intercom. Riku and Sora replied with sustained fire at the weakened area, blowing a sizable hole into the ship. Cain fired one more pair of rockets, having them impact near the ship's engines which summarily resulted in several explosions tearing throughout the ship before it exploded entirely, catching several other smaller skirmish ships in the ensuing shock wave. The remaining heartless ships began to retreat, the stragglers being picked off by Riku and Sora.

" Good job you guys. Lets head planet side." Cain said. He activated the ship's auto pilot as they walked to the teleporter. Moments later, the group was in the woods adjacent to the town. They walked through the large fissure in the wall, seeing the ever familiar structures, illuminated by the ever present twilight. They walked up a staircase to the sandlot, seeing Seifer and his lackeys Raijin (Rai) and Fuujin (Fuu). They saw Hayner, Pence and Olette walk down the other staircase from the alleyway running towards the group.

" Hey, Sora!" Hayner said. Before he could reach him, however, Seifer cut him off with his foot, knocking him to the ground.

" Hey, what was that for?" Hayner called out, jumping to his feet.

" What're you gonna do about it, loser?" Seifer spat, an arrogant smirk on his face. Hayner sighed.

" Forget you. Come on Sora." Hayner said, ushering for Sora and the group to follow them back to the usual spot.

" I see you brought some more friends with you this time." Pence said.

" You already know Donald, Goofy and Kairi. And this is my best friend Riku, King Mickey along with my new friends Cain Sato and Kyoichi Shishoui." Sora said, introducing his friends. Cain and Kyoichi shook hands with their new friends before walking over to the wall to lean against it.

" So Hayner, what happened back there?" Sora asked.

" Well, a couple weeks ago Seifer challenged me to a struggle match. The thing is, he beat me effortlessly. Usually he has to fight me at his fullest to beat me, and his style is much different now. Ever since then he'd been more hostile than usual. He even attacked Olette when she went out to get some food for us for lunch." Hayner said. Olette showed them the bandages on her ankle and shoulder, cringing as she saw the looks on her friend's faces.

" I'll kill him." Cain said finally.

" Cain, calm down. That's not gonna solve anything." Riku said, trying to calm his new friend down.

" We have to do something. An unprovoked attack like this deserves attention." Kyoichi said.

" Lets go to him. Maybe we can beat some sense into him." Cain said, slightly less angry. They walked back to the sandlot and from there to market street, seeing Seifer harassing one of the shop owners.

" Hey, stop right there." Cain said. Seifer pushed the frightened woman away, turning to stare at the source of the voice.

" What're gonna do? You think your so tough? I'd love to see you..." Seifer started, being sent flying from a punch aimed straight at the disciplinary committee leader. He got to his feet, holding his hand over his face, blood flowing freely from a busted nose. Seifer drew his struggle bat, running at Cain with dizzying speed. Cain side stepped the attack and punched him straight in the gut. Seifer dropped to the ground, holding his stomach in pain.

" Maybe that'll teach you not to hit a woman. You make me sick." Cain said, turning to walk back towards the usual spot. Seifer growled, and had to be held back by Rai and Fuu.

" Come back here and fight, you coward!" Seifer screamed, struggling against Rai's grip. Before they could leave, Cain and the others noticed several pools of darkness emerge from the ground, bringing about several Dusk and Dragoon nobodies.

" Looks like it's time to party." Cain said, drawing his sword. The others summoned their weapons and spread out. Kairi and Sora paired up, tearing up their dusks with a flurry of slashes.

" Blizzard!" Kairi called, firing an ice ball at one of the nobodies, knocking it into a wall before being destroyed by being stabbed by Sora's keyblade.

" Your getting good at this." Sora said while fighting off another pair of dusks.

" I learned from the best." Kairi responded, knocking back another dusk that tried to strike. They heard a bout of gunfire, seeing the dusks in front of them explode. They turned to see Cain holding his handgun, sliding a fresh magazine into the weapon.

" If your done with your little love fest, can we back to the battle?" Cain asked, holstering his handgun before impaling a dragoon on his weapon as it tried to dive.

" I don't think so." Cain said, spinning violently while the nobody slowly slid off the sword. Cain then stopped spinning, sending the nobody into a group of its brethren before impacting with the wall before disappearing. Goofy and Donald aided the king as he jumped around wildly, confusing the heartless before they were able to strike before ending them with his keyblade. Kyoichi nodded to Riku, grabbing out his ninja wire while Riku destroyed the dusk he was fighting. Kyo ensnared several airborne dragoons with his wire while Riku charged his magic, releasing a wave of dark orange fire which incinerated the dragoons effortlessly. Sora saw a group of dusks appear from the alley and looked over to Cain.

" Follow my lead." Cain responded, readying his weapon. Cain and Sora ran forward, jumping into the air in unison. They held their weapons at the ready and dived, before long beginning spinning their swords in front of them. The nobodies closest to them were sliced to pieces while those farther off were damaged by the shock wave created by the weapons rapid rotations. When the area was clear, they saw that Seifer and the others had left, and decided to return to the usual spot.

" He seemed off. He's usually less arrogant than that. He has his moments, but I've never seen such rage and aggression come from him." Olette said.

" I agree. We'll have to look into it. Sora, for now we should search the town for any more signs of heartless or nobody activity." Cain suggested.

" Sounds good. Riku, take Kairi, Kyoichi and Goofy with you over to sunset terrace. Mickey, Donald and I will check around here. Cain, are you ok checking the sewers on your own?" Sora asked.

" You bet. I'm still rather wound up about what happened to Olette. It'll be good to pound some nobodies into submission. We'll regroup here in an hour." Cain responded, getting a good hold on his weapon before walking towards the entrance Sora pointed out to him. The others split up to search their pre-assigned areas. In the sewers, Cain kept his hand on his sword, ready to draw it in a single motion if any enemies emerged. He neared what appeared to be the middle of the sewer system when he heard what sounded like talking. He carefully but quickly neared the source, stopping by a corner to peak around.

" Now listen closely. I need you to give this to that boy, Seifer. He need to see that he isn't as useless as he seems to think." A woman said. Due to the dim lighting, he couldn't get a good look at the people or the object, only that is was of small size and almost seemed to be connected to a chain.

" Yes mistress. I'm glad to be the one you chose to aid you in this task." A boy, around Cain's age, said.

" I can only trust this to someone such as you. Don't fail me." The woman said, summoning a dark portal.

" Yes, Maleficent." The boy said, turning from the closing portal. He placed the item in a coat pocket, wrapping his knuckles.

" Maleficent. Well, it looks like Seifer's attitude may not entirely be his fault." Cain thought to himself.

" Hey, you there around the corner, get out here." The boy called. Cain paled. He reluctantly rounded the corner, keeping his hand ready to draw his sword.

" I didn't want to let the mistress know about you. She has far too much to worry about these days. Come closer, I want to get a good look at you." The boy said. The lights brightened, revealing a pale skinned boy about 17 year old wearing a red cloak with black tribal markings, a black sleeved tunic and pants with studded knee guards, a belt with the heartless insignia on the buckle as well as on the shoulders of his cloak. He had a crossbow resting on his back and a short sword on his waist.

" Well, here I'm am. I think Maleficent's slipping in her old age." Cain said with a dry chuckle.

" Watch your mouth you bastard! I'm one of the mistress' most trusted warriors." The boy said.

" You are such a fool. Even your mistress doesn't fully understand the repercussions of her actions. She'll just be consumed by the darkness just like last time, and you'll be all alone."

" Shut up, Shut up Shut up SHUT UP!" The boy said, raising his hand towards Cain. Cain stared in disbelief when he suddenly felt an intense pain shoot throughout his body. The pain was so intense it brought him to his knees.

" What. Is going. On?" Cain said, the extent of the pain visible in his voice.

" Don't you like it. It's a special talent of mine. The ability to cause such intense pain without so much as laying a finger on you. It allows me to do this without interruption." The boy said, taking out his crossbow before aiming it at the afflicted Cain.

" Any last words before your demise?" He added.

" Yeah, learn to pay attention." Cain said, holding his handgun on the boy. Both fired at the same time, with Cain's bullet splitting apart the arrow, leaving a gash on his arm. The boy lowered his hand, ending the attack.

" Impressive. Not many are able to resist my gift. What's your name?" The boy asked, unfazed by the wound.

" Cain Sato. What about you?" Cain asked, still feeling the after effects of his opponent's attack.

" Nabara. Nexys Nabara. I'll bid you goodbye, but I warn you now. If we cross paths again, I won't be as lenient." Nexys said, jumping through a dark portal.

" We'll see about that." Cain said, firing his gun behind him to destroy a soldier heartless trying to sneak up on him.

_Dante & Rain:_

" I see your awake." Dante said. After they'd flown for awhile, Rain had decided to get some rest.

" Yes. I haven't gotten much sleep lately. It's been difficult trying to find any time to get some rest after all of my traveling." Rain said.

" You looked like you needed it. Here, drink one of these. It'll perk you right up." Dante said, tossing her an energy drink. She gladly accepted it, enjoying the taste.

" This is good." She said.

" Enjoy. That there is my solution to waking up at 5:30 in the morning on a daily basis. I'm not much of a morning person. Trust me. One time Cloud tried to wake me up after an all night jaunt with Cain and Kyo and ended up with flaming hair. I loved the look on his face when he saw that his hair was on fire." Dante said with a laugh.

" That does sound rather humorous." Rain said with a laugh of her own.

" Yeah. Well well well, what do we have here." Dante said, seeing that they were nearing a planet.

" What place is that?" Rain asked.

" I dunno. It doesn't say. I guess we should go check it out." Dante said, piloting the gummi-ship to hover just above the planet's orbit.

" Don't be surprised if we get a change of clothes when we get there. That seems to happen quite a bit on some worlds. It's something Cid added to help Kyoichi, Cain and I blend into certain worlds easier." Dante said as they walked into the teleporter. Moments later, they appeared in an alley, and noticed that Dante was correct in his assumption. Rain was now wearing a black short sleeved T-shirt with pink dragons on each arm and beige khaki pants. She had a white wrist band with the kanji for dark on it and black and white tennis shoes. Dante was wearing forest camouflage cargo jeans and a black sleeveless hoodie with a white shirt that had a yin yang symbol on the chest. He also had a pair of dark green high-top sneakers and a necklace with a skull-like design. Dante looked inside his bag and saw another casual outfit and a clear bag with a tag that said 'School Clothing.' The bag contained a white button up shirt and gray slacks with matching gray jacket and a tie. There was also a pair of dress shoes to go with the uniform. Rain had a similar outfit with a skirt instead of pants and a large bow tie as well as a different pair of shoes. The bags also contained school books, wallets and a map. On the map there were areas marked in red where they could go if they needed anything important as well as important locations.

" Lets see. We're currently in Karakura town. It's situated in the western part of the island of Tokyo, which is the capital of the country Japan." Dante revealed.

" We should go explore for a bit and then find somewhere to stay until the next day. It seems we're high school students enrolled in Karakura High School and we're supposed to start classes tomorrow. Right now we're in the Minamikawase district of the town. It seems that the high school is located in the Gakuenchou district on the other side of town. All we have to do tomorrow is wake up a bit early and then hand our registration forms. From there we can learn about the world and get to know some of its inhabitants. Hopefully we shouldn't have to be here for too long. If everything is fine we should be able to leave in a week. Ah, it seems if we need our equipment we can obtain it from a shop in the Mitsumiya district, which happens to be quite close to the school." He continued, rolling up the map before placing it in his bag. He looked over their ID cards quickly before Dante checked through some of his items.

" Perhaps the shopkeeper may let us stay at his residence." Rain suggested.

" Maybe. If our equipment is there, then he obviously isn't a normal run of the mill shopkeeper." Dante agreed. He looked inside his wallet, seeing several paper bills, a small bag of coins and a small sheet of white paper telling him how the currency worked.

" Nice. It seems we also have a bit of local cash as well. The Yen. That in itself is always handy. Not all worlds accept Munny or Gil." Dante explained, pocketing the money.

" It sounds like you and your friends are more than prepared." Rain agreed.

" You'd be right. Wouldn't believe how many times it's saved our hides." Dante said. They walked up the street when they saw a boy about 16 years old walk out of a two story building that was both a house and a small medical clinic with a piece of toast in his mouth. The boy had orange hair and wore a gray button shirt over a maroon T-shirt and jeans as well as a pair of low top sneakers. Before they could speak, Dante and Rain saw the second story window above the boy open before a girl about the same age jumped from it, nearly landing on him. The girl wore a purple T-shirt with a blue and pink collar, a pair of knee length spandex shorts partially covered by a skirt.

" Dammit Rukia, be careful. You almost landed on me!" The boy scolded. As he turned around, he noticed Dante and Rain.

" Hello, I haven't seen either of you before. Are you new to town?" The boy asked.

" Yeah. I'm Dante Kousume and this is Rain Inazuki." Dante said. Dante had looked over their ID's and saw that Rain's had the last name Inazuki.

" I'm Ichigo Kurosaki This here's my friend, Rukia." Ichigo replied as Rukia nodded.

" You wouldn't happen to go to Karakura High School, would you?" Dante asked.

" We do, actually. Hopefully we'll have some classes together." Ichigo replied.

" So do I. I hope this isn't too much to ask, but would you mind showing us around. We only got here recently and we don't know our way around very well." Dante asked.

" Sure. All we have to do is get a few friends and we can hang out for the day." Ichigo said. After several minutes walking throughout Karakura, they walked to an apartment complex and knocked on one of the doors. Seconds later the door opened, revealing a girl the same age as Ichigo and Rukia with hair colored very similarly to Ichigo's. She wore a purple short sleeved button shirt and gray sweatpants with a red stripe down the sides.

" Hi Ichigo. Oh wow, who're they?" The girl asked.

" These are a couple of people we met earlier." Ichigo said.

" I'm Dante Kousume." Dante said.

" Rain Inazuki." Rain replied.

" I'm Orihime Inoue." Orihime introduced, bowing slightly.

" So Ichigo, what're you up to?" she asked.

" I'm showing our new friends around. I was wondering if you wanted to tag along?" Ichigo asked.

" Of course, Ichigo." Orihime beamed. They then stopped at another apartment a few blocks away. The person who answered the door was a tall, muscular man that stood an imposing 6' 5", four inches taller than even Dante's 6' 1". The imposing man wore an orange Hawaiian shirt with magenta flowers and a pair of black jeans.

" Hello. Ichigo, I see you've met some new friends." The man said.

" Yep. This is Dante, and Rain." Ichigo said.

" I'm Yasutora Sado, but you can also call me Chad." Chad replied. After persuading Chad to join them, Ichigo pondered about whether or not to invite Uryū as well.

" Hey Ichigo, shouldn't we invite Uryu to join us too?" Orihime asked.

" I thought about it, but I'm not sure he'd be up to it right now. He hasn't fully gotten over what happened." Ichigo replied. Dante noticed the slight restraint in his voice. He knew Ichigo wasn't letting on about something.

" Well, lets try and enjoy today and hope that Rain and I can meet this Uryu tomorrow." Dante said. Ichigo and his friends spent the next few hours showing Dante and Rain the town, such as Karakura's shopping district, the Onose river and the outside of the high school that Ichigo and the others attended. They then proceeded back to the shopping district to get some lunch before continuing on. They bought some food from an outdoor vendor and sat down under one of the tables shrouded with an umbrella.

" Well, how does the town seem in your opinion." Rukia asked as she ate a bowl of tempura.

" It's nice. Not a real big city and the people seem at least marginally polite." Dante said, partaking in a rice ball. Just as he spoke, he heard footsteps behind him.

" Look what we have here Sorimachi, the strawberry and his stupid friends. Wait a moment, he seems to be in the company of a couple new faces." The person behind him said.

" I apparently spoke too soon." Dante said, leaning back far enough in his chair to see a person around Ichigo's age with yellow blonde hair and brutish features. The person next to him has shoulder length black hair and a hard set features. Both wore the full Karakura high school uniform.

" Ōshima and Sorimachi. I thought you two had dropped out of school to go join the circus." Ichigo said.

" Shut your mouth, strawberry. Hey kids, you should go leave big man and strawberry alone. They're not that right. Stick with someone who isn't a complete waste." The blonde thug said smugly.

" Then how about you mind your own damn business, Mr Waste of Space." Dante replied nonchalantly.

" You little." The blonde thug retorted, rearing his fist back for a punch. Before he could connect, Dante caught the punch with his right hand, still staring at the thug upside down while balancing on the back two legs of his chair.

" Let go!" Ōshima replied, trying to release Dante's wrought iron grip.

" Only because you asked." Dante said, releasing him. In doing so, the force the blonde had been exerting ending up sending him to the ground on his rear. Dante took another bite from the rice ball in front of him, ignoring the thug behind him.

" You little bastard. You think you can just make a fool of me, can you?" Ōshima said. He got to his feet and charged towards Dante again, who calmly vacated his chair to stand. As the thug prepared to punch again, Dante pushed his assailant's arm to the side with his left hand before grabbing it, using the arm to flip Ōshima over his shoulder and onto the ground. As the thug got to his feet, he tried a horizontal kick. Dante merely ducked down and kicked out Ōshima's remaining leg, sending the thug to the ground. Ōshima once again got to his feet, trying to upper cut him. Dante side stepped and grabbed the blonde's arm, bringing it behind him and bending it into a very uncomfortable position. He then kicked out his legs and made him drop to his knees.

" Ow, let go of me!" Ōshima struggled.

" Are you gonna leave us alone, or am I gonna have to break an arm?" Dante commanded, adding a bit more pressure. Ōshima nodded, whimpering slightly from the pain. Dante released his grip and let him fall to the ground, clutching his arm in pain.

" This isn't the end, you bastard!" Ōshima said as he and Sorimachi quickly vacated the area.

" How did you do that?" Ichigo said. Dante noticed that his excited expression was, for the most part, genuine.

" I learned quite a few difference fighting styles. When you grow up in a place like I did, you have to know how fight. That can be the difference between life and death." Dante replied.

" That's impressive. You didn't receive a single scratch or throw a single punch. Your technique is much more refined than Ichigo's." Rukia said.

" Rukia!" Ichigo shot back. The two then got into a heated argument.

" Chad, does this happen very often?" Dante asked nervously.

" Unfortunately." Chad answered.

" Chad, can I ask you a question?" Dante asked. Chad nodded. "how fast can Ichigo run?"

" Quite fast actually. Why do you ask?" Chad asked.

" I have an idea, and I want to go for a run." Dante said.

" Hey Rain, it seems like those two are having quite the lovers quarrel." Dante said with a grin.

" WHAT!" Ichigo and Rukia both exclaimed. Dante grinned as his antagonizing comment got their attention, sticking his tongue out to hopefully provoke Ichigo into chasing him.

" Come here you!" Ichigo responded, jumping over the table to chase after Dante.

" Is that it? I got the impression from Chad that you were fast." Dante said tauntingly.

" You want fast?" Ichigo shot back, increasing his speed, steadily catching up with Dante.

" Of course. The real question here is can you deliver?" Dante joked, slinking into a nearby alleyway. Dante used a nearby trashcan to jump to the stone wall, Ichigo following suit.

" It appears that he can hold his own. Rukia doesn't give him enough credit." Dante thought, jumping back onto the side walk. As the chase continued they neared the Onose river, running down the road parallel to it. Dante tried to shake Ichigo but overestimated, slipping on the grass before rolling down the hill next to the water. Ichigo continued to follow but also slipped, sprawling out on the ground next to him. They just layed on the ground, staring into the sky above them.

" Hey Ichigo, just to be fair I was just kidding about the lover's quarrel thing. I've had a bit of pent up energy and that was just what I needed." Dante said.

" Your a strange guy, you know that? Antangonizing someone just to go on a run. That's a new one." Ichigo said.

" Not anymore than you, Mr Strawberry." Dante joked back. The both of them started laughing. After an hour Rukia and the others found them both walking back towards the clinic owned by Ichigo's father.

" You two ok?" Orihime asked.

" Perfectly fine." Dante said. Rukia's phone suddenly went off, and she quickly showed it to Ichigo.

" Sorry Dante, we gotta go. See you later?" Ichigo asked.

" Sure." Dante said as Ichigo and Rukia quickly ran off.

" We're gonna head home. We'll see you tomorrow." Orihime said. Chad nodded as he and Orihime both walked to their respective apartments.

" Looks like we need to get our equipment. I have a feeling Ichigo and Rukia aren't just late for a prior engagement. Follow me." Dante said. Half an hour later, they arrived in front of the shop on the map. The shop had a large sign with the words 'Urahara Shōten' above the door. As they walked up to the door, they saw it open, revealing a pale man with blonde hair and gray eyes shadowed by his bucket hat. He wore a green shirt and pants over a coat with white diamonds on the lower half and traditional Japanese wooden sandals. In his left hand was a four foot cane, which he held at his side.

" Well hello there. I'm Kisuke Urahara, the owner of this fine establishment. What can I do for you two today?" The man, Kisuke, asked.

" May we come inside?" Dante asked. Urahara nodded and lead them into the store. He brought them to a sitting room, where he sat down and clapped his hands. Seconds later a tan skinned man with cornrowed hair, a handlebar mustache and glasses wearing a white shirt and gray pants under an apron carried in a tray with a tea kettle and several cups. The man set the tray on the table and left the room.

" Come, my friends. Have a drink." Kisuke said, pouring himself some tea. Dante and Rain took some, and each took a sip before speaking.

" Lemme guess. You're from out of town and some supplies of your were sent here." he continued. Dante raised an eyebrow suspiciously.

" You could say that. Do you know where the items in question are?" Dante asked. Kisuke laughed as he stood up, holding his cane. He pointed the end at Dante, showing the skull engulfed in blue and black flame design on the bottom. Kisuke walked closer to Dante, pressing the end to his forehead. With a swift movement, he thrust his hand forward, pushing the cane through Dante. This action pushed Dante to the floor. When he looked up, he saw his body fall to the floor. He looked at himself, seeing he now wore his regular clothing, his sword at his back.

" Well well, it seems that it worked." Urahara said.

" What the hell? What'd you just do to me? What's going on?" Dante said, hand ready to draw his sword.

" You see, you're right in assuming that Ichigo and Rukia aren't regular teenagers. They're what we call Soul Reapers. They're charged with guiding spirits to the next life and exterminating the hollows, corrupted spirits that become monsters that devour the souls of the dearly departed. You are now in a spirit like form, visible only to soul reapers, hollows and humans with the ability to sense spiritual pressure. I've noticed a large increase of spiritual energy in the past few days. I have a feeling that you two might know what's going on." Urahara explained.

" I can't explain right now unfortunately. I promise to do so when we return with Ichigo." Dante said. Kisuke nodded and then used his cane to separate Rain from her body as well, her spirit form wearing her organization cloak with her saw blades on her belt.

" Here, take this." Urahara said, giving him a cellphone like device.

" That device will allow you trace the source of hollows as well as pick up any spiritual pressure in the area. My associates and I will keep an eye on your bodies until you get back. When Ichigo's here we can go over everything in detail." Urahara said, having his tan skinned associate lay their bodies near the table in a more respectable fashion. The two quickly left the shop following the directions from the device. When they arrived at the location, which turned out to be an abandoned warehouse, they saw an explosion from the roof quickly followed by Ichigo flying into a nearby wall. They noticed that Ichigo's clothing had changed. Instead of his usual school uniform, Ichigo now sported a black Kosode (robe) under a Hakama bound by a white sash, white Tabi (Japanese socks) and Waraji (straw sandals). In his hands was a large sword resembling a large cleaver with a cloth wrapped tang instead of a traditional handle. His head now also sported a gash above his left eye that was freely flowing blood. Ichigo disappeared and reappeared in a flash in front of one of the hollows, slicing it in half vertically before jumping to avoid being struck by the claws of another. He jumped back to the crater he'd made, finally noticing Dante and Rain staring at him.

" Damn, that thing's strong. Wait? Dante? What're you doing here?" Ichigo asked, before noticing his change of clothing.

" Here to help. Isn't it obvious." Dante replied, drawing Resonant Fang. One of the things that had thrown Ichigo emerged from the smoking hole in the building. It's body reminded Dante much of a shadow or Darkside heartless, especially the hole in its chest. Though the differences ended there. The hollows, Dante noticed, looked to be easily a few feet taller than the average human with sharp claws on its fingers and feet. The most noticeable difference was the skull-like mask that the hollow adorned, this particular mask resembling a barracuda.

" Well, looks like we have ourselves even more delectable souls to devour, don't you agree." The hollow said. Seconds later several more hollows emerged from the hole, sporting various masks and different colored skin. One of the hollows jumped towards Dante, before the keyblader used his weapon to stab the creature close to the hole before he kicked it into the wall.

" Doesn't look too tough." Dante said. The hollow he stabbed however rose to its feet, the wound Dante had inflicted rapidly closed.

" Think again, boy." The hollow said in a dark, raspy voice.

" Dante, slice its mask in two. It's the easiest way to dispatch a hollow." Rukia said. She was clad in the same outfit at Ichigo, though her sword was a simple katana. The only difference was the white wrapping around the handle and a ribbon hanging from the pommel. Dante nodded and shot towards the hollow, using his weapon to bisect the creature diagonally through the mask. As a second hollow dived towards Dante from above, Rain threw one of her saw blades connected by her psychic energy at the hollow, wrapping it around its head and mask. She pulled hard, the blade and energy tether split through the mask, slicing it to pieces and destroying the hollow..

" Still not that difficult. Thunder!" Dante called, firing a lightning bolt from the sky. The bolt struck one of the hollow's masks, destroying it completely.

" Amazing. They aren't soul reapers but they have quite a few skills." Rukia said, slicing apart another hollow that tried to attack her.

" Fire!" Dante called, creating a wave of fire that incinerated another trio of hollows.

" Hadō number 33. Sokatsui!" Rukia called, firing a blue burst of energy from her palm, disintegrating the hollow in front of her completely.

" Submerge." Rain said, engulfing a trio of hollows that tried to jump her in a sphere of water. She made a crushing gesture with her hands, and the sphere began to constrict, slowing crushing the hollows. Moments later, their masks shattered into pieces, destroying the hollows. Dante ran up a building, slicing through another pair of hollows, before reaching the "leader" on the roof. The leader wasn't dark like his comrades, with lighter, purple skin. The mask the hollow adorned resembled a lion, with fur surrounding the bottom of the mask to match. It's eyes were also more feral, with yellow irises and slit pupils.

" It seems that my comrades underestimated you. I won't do the same. Cero!" The hollow called, the mouth of its mask opening as red energy compacted into a spherical shape. Moments later, the hollow fired the blast directly at Dante, who dodged and knocked it back at the hollow with his sword.

" Ichigo, that's an Adjuchas class menos. It must be the one leading the hollows." Rukia surmised. Dante charged at the Adjuchas, parrying each of its attacks with his sword.

" Dante, come back here. You can't beat that thing." Ichigo yelled out to Dante.

" I can handle it." Dante replied, motioning for the Adjuchas class menos to attack. It streaked towards him with dizzying speed, but not fast enough for Dante to be unable to dodge. It jumped back down, trying to catch Dante from behind, who summoned his keyblade to block the retaliatory strike. He used the weapon to strike the Adjuchas class menos, scoring sizzling marks that remained despite hollows regenerative capabilities.

" He just summoned another weapon, and it looks like it's leaving marks the hollow can't easily heal. He's definitely stronger that I thought." Ichigo said. Expecting an answer from Rukia, he turned to the soul reaper to be met with only a shocked look on her face.

" What? What's so shocking?" Ichigo asked.

" That weapon. It's the keyblade." She replied.

" Keyblade? What the hell kind of a weapon is that?" Ichigo shot back.

" Legend states that the keyblade is a weapon of immeasurable part, and that the wielder of such a weapon has untold strength. It's rumored that the entire soul society could be destroyed if an enemy were to wield such a weapon."

" So, what's so shocking? Dante's obviously on our side." Ichigo said.

" Not necessarily. The keyblader doesn't have to go to one with a pure heart. The keyblade is capable of great good, or great destruction." Rukia explained.

" Are you serious? A key shaped sword can be that much of a threat?"

" All I know right now is that we need answers. Lets defeat the remaining hollows and sort this out with Urahara." Rukia said as the two joined their new colleague in the fight against the Menos. Before they could strike, a blast of dark energy aimed at the trio forced them to dodge. When the smoke cleared, Dante noticed that a dozen shadow heartless surrounding the hollow. They turned to the Menos before jumping at its body. The shadows entered the Adjuchas, when the fusion began to bring about a change. The menos' skin darkened and its size increased drastically. When the transformation completed, the Adjuchas was now 7 meters tall, had almost sword length claws, fully yellow eyes, and now had the familiar symbol of the heartless emblazoned on the forehead of its mask.

" What's happening. What're those things that fused with the hollow?" Ichigo asked.

" Heartless." Dante replied quickly, readying his weapons. Rain jumped up to join them, holding both saw blades connected to her psychic tether.

" Heartless?"

" We'll explain later, lets just take this bastard out." Dante said, dual-wielding One Wing Angel and Resonant Fang.

" Sounds good to me." Ichigo replied, flash-stepping behind the creature to cleave it in half from behind. It anticipated the move, however, and a pair of arms emerged from its back, knocking Ichigo to the edge of the building they were on. Dante charged forward, swinging both his weapons at the hollow turned heartless. The heartless grabbed the blades, albeit its hand smoked from touching the keyblade, and slammed Dante into the ceiling of the building. It did so five times before slamming him into it once more, knocking him through into the warehouse.

" Shit, that thing's tough." Dante said to himself at the creature jumped through the hole he created. Dante shot forwards again, trying to stab his weapon through its mask, but its hands caught his arm, holding it in a vice like grip. Dante cried out in in pain as he felt the hands burn the flesh of his right arm. He grabbed his Keyblade with his free hand, throwing it at the mask of the heartless. It sliced into it about half a foot, causing it to relinquish its grip on his arm. He noticed that besides his hand, protected by his demon hide gloves, his arm was dark purple and bleeding from the burns inflicted from the heartless' acidic-like touch. He tried, unsuccessfully to move his arm, grasping his sword which had dropped to the ground after the heartless had released its grip. He sheathed the weapon, re-summoning his keyblade. Ichigo and the others then jumped through the hole seconds later, running over to Dante, noticing the burns on his arm.

" Are you ok?" Rukia and Rain asked, concerned.

" I've had worse. I'm not out of this fight yet." Dante proclaimed, readying his keyblade.

" Time to kick things up a notch. Getsuga Tenshō!" Ichigo said as he swung his sword, launching a blue wave of condensed energy at the heartless. The attack slammed the heartless into the wall, damage evident when the dust cleared. Dante readied his Keyblade and shot forward. He went to swing his keyblade when he spun around to its back. Before the heartless could react, Dante stopped behind it, stabbing his keyblade through the back of the heartless' skull and through its mask. It exploded into a cloud of darkness before a group of hearts ascended into the air.

" Damn." Dante said, falling to one knee. He looked as his arm, seeing the damage caused by the burns.

" That wound looks pretty bad, we'd better get you to Urahara's. He'll be able to help him." Rukia said.

" What about them? I have a feeling they'll be seen. And the fact that our bodies are still with Kon and Ririn." Ichigo replied.

" Just get us to the shop. We'll be okay." Dante said. After maneuvering through back alleys and finding Ichigo and Rukia's bodies, they walked through the door of the Urahara's shop, seeing him sitting in the same place he'd been in when they'd left. Dante and Rain's bodies were in cots layed out on the floor.

" I see you've returned. Come here, I have something to treat that would." Urahara said, producing a jar with a pale green salve. After going back into his body, Urahara applied the salve and bandages to cover the wounds.

" I see that the injury carried over to my body as well." Dante noticed, rubbing the arm wrapped in bandages.

" Since your body and spirit form are still linked, you still sustain injury, though on less of a scale."

" I have a question. How did you know that separating their bodies would work?" Ichigo asked.

" I didn't. I guessed." Urahara said. Ichigo face faulted.

" What do you mean you guessed?" Dante said, slamming his good fist onto the table. This act, unfortunately, flipped the table towards him. He groaned as he shook off the tea that now saturated his clothing.

" Now now. I wasn't sure but there was a very good chance that it would work. Now, I heard Ichigo and Rukia mention something you wanted to show me." Urahara said. Dante held his good hand out, the keyblade appearing in it moments later.

" Now this is something I haven't heard about in a very long time."

" Mr. Hat and Clogs, you know about this thing?" Ichigo asked.

" Yes. It's thought to be no more than legend. The keyblade is a weapon of great strength. As the name implies it is a key, which can open just about any type of lock. Contrary to popular belief, the keyblade has quite the history in the Soul Society. It's rumored that a warrior of the keyblade came to assist Soul Society over 1000 years ago. The only one who could confirm or disprove this rumor is Captain Yamamoto." Urahara explained.

" Urahara, I noticed that Rukia's sword changed back to a regular katana as she sheathed it. Mind letting me into the loop?" Dante asked.

" Your referring to their Zanpakutō, or Soul Cutter. A Zanpakutō is the main weapon of a soul reaper, and is usually a katana when in its sealed form. All Zanpakutō have three different forms. Their sealed state, their Shikai, or initial release, and Bankai, the final release. Every Zanpakutō is the physical manifestation of a Soul Reaper, and that manifestation has its own personality. In order for a Soul Reaper to become stronger, they must learn the name of their Zanpakuto to achieve Shikai, and to be able to summon their Zanpakutō spirit into our world in order to achieve Bankai. Rukia here as achieved Shikai, while our good friend Ichigo has achieved Bankai, though through special means."

" That's interesting." Dante replied.

" You were saying that those black things that fused with the hollow were heartless. What are they?" Rukia asked.

" Heartless are the physical embodiment of the darkness in a person's heart. They then go on to steal the hearts of others." Dante said. Ichigo brushed his hand against his chest.

" Not that heart. The spiritual heart. Similar to your soul. The heartless are driven by instinct, tirelessly gathering more and more hearts from countless beings as well as their worlds. Every world has a heart as well, and if the planet of the world is captures, that world becomes a mere fragment that's devoid of life. The keyblade can be used to seal off the world from the heartless, but there are several keyholes in each world. Every time a keyhole is sealed, it prevents a good majority of heartless from crossing over. It doesn't stop them all, but it makes them far less prevalent in a world. The heartless you saw earlier were pureblood heartless, also known as shadows. Most pure blood heartless share a similarity with hollows, especially the hole in the chest. The other type of heartless is the emblem heartless. Emblem heartless have a heart with barbed wire emblem that shows that indicates that they are an emblem heartless. Basically, the stronger the heart of the person that succumbs to darkness, the stronger the heartless that results is. When a strong being becomes a heartless, their body becomes an empty shell. This shells usually becomes a Nobody. Nobodies are much different in comparison to the heartless. Nobodies are usually white or silver with the occasional pink or maroon accents. They're also much more intelligent than the heartless. Nobodies are able to plan out their attacks, and can fool their enemies by pretending to show emotion. Some nobodies even have a human-like form. Most, if not all, of these nobodies are a part of Organization XIII, a group of nobodies that want to regain their hearts by opening the door to Kingdom Hearts. Kingdom Hearts is the heart of all worlds. Organization XIII wants to control Kingdom Hearts to regain their lost hearts, and will utilize the lesser nobodies and anyone else they can sway under their control to aide them. The nobodies like those in Organization XIII are extremely dangerous, and are very cunning and much more intelligent than other nobodies." Dante explained, Ichigo and the others hanging onto every word.

" If this is the case, why haven't we encountered these nobodies, or faced any members of this 'Organzation' you've spoken of?" Rukia asked.

" To be honest, neither Rain or myself originally come from your world. We're traveling to find her father and defeat any heartless or nobodies we encounter along the way. And as for you question, they may be at work as we speak." Dante revealed.

" So your saying your basically an alien?" Ichigo asked.

" Because I just happen to have green skin and antennae sticking out of my head. No, the term interplanetary visitor is a more appropriate term. That's really all i'm allowed to tell you without causing severe repercussions ." Dante replied with a hint of sarcasm at the beginning.

" Well if that's all, then you can go Ichigo. Rukia, I received a Jigokuchō from Soul Society. You're to return immediately to issue a report on the latest Hollow attack and to attend to some of your other duties." Urahara said.

" Thank you. I guess I will see you another time, Ichigo." Rukia said, walking with Urahara towards the basement.

" Dante, you and Rain can stay here until you leave. Tessai should have dinner ready at around 5pm. Also, tell Jinta and Ururu that they need to do a quick inventory check before dinner." Urahara said before going down. Dante nodded and walked into the room nearby. After a night of rest, Dante and Rain met up with Ichigo on their way to school. After getting their schedules, noticing that they were identical to Ichigo's, walked down the hall on the second floor towards Ichigo's homeroom. Near the door, they noticed a boy with black hair close to their homeroom.

" Hey, good morning Ichigo." The boy said.

" Hey, how's it going?" Ichigo replied.

" Oh, I see you have a couple new friends. Hi, i'm Mizuiro Kojima." Mizuiro said.

" Hi. I'm Dante, this here's Rain." Dante replied in introduction. They suddenly heard rapid footsteps down the hall and becoming louder.

" !" Keigo yelled as he ran down the hall before being clothes-lined by Ichigo.

" What a nut. I dunno why he keeps trying that trick, it'll never work." Ichigo said as they walked towards the door.

" It looks like you've found yourself a nice spot on the floor." Mizuiro said, standing over Keigo who was twitching on the floor.

" I need first aid." Keigo responded as Ichigo, Dante and rain entered the room.

" Hi, Ichigo, Dante, Rain. Good morning." Orihime said, waving to the group.

" There's something called a comb. You know, you should try one." Uryū said, repositioning his glasses.

" Oh really. Shut up." Ichigo said.

" So you must be the Uryū Orihime told us about yesterday. Nice to meet you, I'm Dante. This here's Rain." Dante said.

" Nice to meet you." Nearby Keigo started freaking out.

" Aww, your standing around together like you've got a secret club that I'm not allowed to join in. Why is Chad with Orihime and Uryū? It's like the Beauty, the beast and the nerd together without me! Ever since the beginning of summer break you've been stuck together like glue, I demand to know why that is! Those three never used to hang out, what could've happened over the summer to create such an unnatural alliance, and what are you doing with them? Oh, the humanity, it's the tragic ending to a beautiful friendship. Now you even have two more people that belong to your so called group." Keigo whined.

" Chill out, nothing happened." Ichigo replied nonchalantly. Keigo gasped before continuing to speak.

" I've got it. I'm nothing but an aging puppy that no one wants to pet. I'm finished!" He continued.

" Sounds about right, _puppy_, so why don't you go stand somewhere else." Ichigo said, putting emphasis on the word puppy. Keigo stood in disbelief for a few moments before Mizuiro appeared behind him.

" Get a grip on yourself, Keigo, don't you know you're being teased?" He pointed out.

" Oh, stupid blue skies I knew you were teasing me!" Keigo said, running from the room. Chizuru suddenly appeared behind Orihime, hugging her from behind.

" Good morning! It's nice to see you." Chizuru said enthusiastically, nearly groping Orihime's breasts.

" Back off." Another female student said, kicking Chizuru in the face and off of Orihime.

" As usual, an impressive reaction. It's nice to know nothing's changed around here." Chizuru replied, holding her nose from where she was kicked.

" I just wanted to keep you _abreast_ of the situation. Nothing ever changes with you, does it Chizuru? Here it is in Autumn and your still in heat."

" Good morning. How you doing, Tatsuki?" Ichigo said.

" Oh, hi. Who're you two?" Tatsuki asked.

" We're new here. We met up with Ichigo yesterday so that's why we're hanging out with him. I'm Dante." Dante said.

" My name's Rain." Rain responded quickly.

" I'm Tatsuki Arisawa, nice to meet you. So Ichigo, how's your assignment coming along?" Tatsuki asked

" An assignment's due?" Ichigo responded.

" You forgot about the assignment we were given over summer break? I told you all about it, Ichigo."

" Oh yeah. I guess I forgot." Ichigo said.

" Oh man, I can't believe you. Don't blame me if you don't finish it on time." Tatsuki responded.

" Don't worry, I won't."

" Well you better not. Man you're gonna get in trouble if you keep missing so much school, I mean it. Hey, what's that thing?" Tatsuki asked. Ichigo looked at his shirt, seeing a small charm with a kanji on it attached to the shirt of his uniform.

" Oh, this? Uh, it's a lucky charm." Ichigo said, retelling the events of what happened that morning.

_-Flashback- Earlier that morning:_

" _Dad. I'm sorry, I forgot to return this to you." Ichigo said, placing the charm onto the table._

" _Actually, i'm not even sure why I still have it." he added. Isshin humphed and held up the charm_

" _I don't want it." He replied._

" _Huh?"_

" _I don't need this lucky charm anymore so i'm giving it to you out of the goodness of my heart." Isshin said, holding up a needle and thread which he used to start sewing the charm to Ichigo's shirt._

" _Huh. hey, hold on a second. Why're you sewing that thing onto my uniform? Dad!" Ichigo protested._

_-End Flashback-_

" My dad did it. He sewed it on my uniform." Ichigo said.

" I could figure that out without even asking you." Tatsuki replied.

" How the hell did you already know that?"

" It's a simple case of logic. Who else but your dad would give you something as goofy as that thing." Tatsuki said. Ichigo chuckled dryly.

" Anyway, that doesn't matter. What I really wanted to ask about was that skull there." She added, pointing to the skull charm hanging from his belt loop.

" Eh he. Oh, you mean this. Interesting you should ask that. Um, I got it from this guy I met. I mean I found it." Ichigo said, reaching for the skull charm.

" Wait a sec. Tatsuki, you can see this?" Ichigo asked. Tatsuki's expression changed as she responded.

" What's the big deal, it's right there." Before she could continue to prod the teacher, Misato Ochi, walked to the door.

" Hi everybody." Ms. Ochi said.

" Ah, Ms. Ochi." Keigo said.

" Alright, get to your seats everyone." she continued as she walked over to her desk.

" Ok." Tatsuki responded as everyone did as instructed.

" Right. Lets see if all my students are in attendance today. Ōshima and Sorimachi are never here because they're juvenile delinquents, so we won't worry about them, will we class?" Ms. Ochi said, ignoring the blatantly obvious odd looks her students gave her.

" I have a exciting announcement. A few transfer students are going to join our class." She continued. The class "oooohed" in response. Near the middle of the room at his desk Ichigo was looking at his charm, remembering what Captain Jūshirō Ukitake had said when he'd given Ichigo the substitute soul reaper badge.

" _This Badge is more powerful that it looks. It is dangerous for anyone other than a soul reaper to use this. That's why it has a visual barrier built into it, to keep ordinary humans from seeing it."_

" That's what he said. I wonder if it's broken?" Ichigo thought. The badge made a noise and the eyes flashed, surprising Ichigo. Unfortunately, his outburst didn't go unnoticed by the rest of the class. Chad, Orihime, Uryu, Dante and Rain most likely understood the significance of the noise.

" A hollow." The all though simultaneously.

" Something wrong Ichigo?" Mizuiro asked.

" Um. It's nothing, really." Ichigo said nervously.

" Hey, please be quiet. Now, will Dante Kousume and Rain Inazuki please come up and introduce yourselves." Ms. Ochi said.

" Hello everyone. As Ms. Ochi already said, I'm Dante."

" And I'm Rain."

" It's great to meet you and I hope we can have a good time." They both said before being issued seats.

" Now for our other new student." Ms. Ochi said, walking to the door and opening it. She saw no one.

" You can come in now. Odd, where'd he go?" she wondered as Ichigo slinked around her and ran down the hall.

" Hey Ichigo, where are you going?" Ms. Ochi yelled down the hall.

" To the restroom!" He yelled back, running around the corner.

" Restroom? Right." She said, suspicious. Seconds later Chad and Orihime also ran out the door.

" Chad, Orihime, where are you two going?"

" To the restroom." They said in unison.

" Orihime, shame on you. You should know that a lady never runs off to the restroom like that! Honestly." Ms. Ochi responded.

" But I'm about to pee my pants." Orihime yelled back.

" Go on then and come right back."

" Ha ha, bathroom! Bathroom! Bathroom! Bathroom, huh!" Keigo yelled, trying to also leave before being grabbed by the shirt by Ms. Ochi.

" You're not going anywhere." she said.

" Huh? Favoritism! Favoritism! Favoritism! Freedom to pee! How come Orihime, Chad and Ichigo get to go?" Keigo whined as Tatsuki sighed.

" What did I get us into?" Dante thought, shaking his head. Tatsuki turned, her expression changing when she saw what looked like Ichigo in different clothing running across the track field and off school grounds. When they finally returned, after a quick lecture from the teacher, they got to their seats and waited for class to resume. She opened the door, allowing the student to walk in. He stood about the same height as Ichigo. He had blonde, straight cut, jaw-length hair stopping where it was parallel with his mouth, his upper teeth present in many of his facial expressions.

" Pay attention everyone. The transfer student I told you about earlier is here. Why don't you introduce yourself." Ms. Ochi said. The boy prepared to write his name onto the blackboard, strangely writing the characters backwards and words in reverse.

" There's hei, as in flat footed. The Ko, from Imoko Onono, that old politician. Shin and Ko, as in cod roe, makes Shinji Hirako. It's very nice to meet you." He said, bowing to the students.

" Hey Shinji, It's the other way around." Ms. Ochi replied over the laughter from some of the students.

" It's a really good trick, isn't it. Backward writing is a very unusual skill of mine." Shinji said with a slightly wider grin.

" So that's what you were up to. Now, where will we have you sit?" Ms. Ochi asked.

" Oh, Ms. Ochi." Shinji asked.

" What?" She questioned.

" I'd like to sit next to a cute girl." Shinji replied. As Shinji and Ms. Ochi continued their conversation on where he'd be seated, Ichigo pondered about what happened to Uryu while in the Soul Society.

" Uryū. I thought that you would've recovered by now. But I guess your powers won't come back as easily as I imagined." Ichigo thought. Before he could continue to ponder, he heard the chair next to him scrape across the floor, seeing Shinji sitting down at the desk.

" Looks like you and I are gonna be neighbors. Yeah, I hope we can be friends, Ichigo." Shinji said.

" Eh, oh yeah. Yeah, sure thing." Ichigo replied nervously. After classes were over, Ichigo, Uryū and the others walked home while Dante and Rain walked to the Urahara shop they'd been staying at while they were in Karakura. They walked through the door, seeing Urahara sitting in his usual spot drinking tea with Jinta and Ururu nearby.

" Ah, you're home." Urahara said. Dante noticed the three dolls looking at books on the floor. Urahara had introduced them to him the previous evening as Ririn, Kurōdo and Noba, three Mod Souls he'd created to sense the Bounts. Their current forms were given to them by Chad, Orihime and Ichigo and was what they decided to use when not in their gigai to conserve space.

" Yeah. Well, since we're here, you promised me." Dante said.

_-Flashback-_

_After dinner last night, Dante walked into Urahara's room._

" _Hey, Urahara. I have a request."_

" _And what would that be?" He responded._

" _I'd like you to tell me about all of the major events preceding my arrival." Dante asked._

" _I'll tell you tomorrow since I'm not expecting anyone then." Urahara said, setting his cane next to his desk._

" _Thanks. Talk to you soon." Dante said, walking out of the room._

_-End Flashback-_

" Ah, I remember. Come over and enjoy some tea, will you?" Urahara asked. Dante and Rain nodded, and he began to tell the two about when Ichigo had first become a soul reaper. They listened intently, learning about Ichigo taking on Rukia's mantle as a soul reaper as she recovered her powers, Ichigo's friends learning about their powers Ichigo losing and gaining his own soul reaper powers, Orihime and the others subsequently assisting Ichigo in saving Rukia from execution, the treachery of 5th division Captain of the Gotei 13 Sōsuke Aizen, 3rd division Captain Gin Ichimaru, and 9th division Captain Kaname Tōsen, the theft of the Hōgyoku and the most recent incident involving the Bount attack.

" It seems so strange. Just finding out that the afterlife affects you in such a way. It's a lot to take in." Rain said.

" I hear ya. I've been to some strange places but meetings with beings from the afterlife like this is a new one in my book." Dante agreed.

" I see your impressed. I've seen quite a lot of things in my time myself. Even I'm not fully aware of everything." Urahara responded.

" I have one more request at the moment. I've noticed a certain technique utilized by Ichigo and Rukia, how they were able to disappear and reappear as if through teleportation. I'd like you to teach it to me." Dante asked.

" Ah, your probably referring to Hohō, or fast movement. You most likely noticed the technique Shunpo, which allows one to move faster than the eye can see. I know someone who could show you how to learn the technique, but you have to listen to everything they tell you to do." Urahara said.

" Sure. Just don't go too far. I've heard from Ichigo about you, and the last thing I need is for you is to pull some sort of joke on me." Dante said.

" Me? Try that on you? Not at all. You're a tad smarter than Ichigo. No, it's an easy technique to teach. Though whether you can learn it or not is undetermined." Urahara said, grabbing a bag from a storeroom before leading Dante down a staircase. After what seemed like ages, they arrived in a large area that appeared to be a large mountainous terrain with withered trees. Dante noticed the blue sky illuminating the area.

" This is a special training area I developed. This is the place where Ichigo discovered his own soul reaper powers. It will now also be where she will teach you shunpo." Urahara said.

" She?"

" Yes, me." A voice called out. Dante looked around, before noticing something on one of the mountains. The figure jumped down, now in full view of Dante.

" I will be the one to teach you Shunpo." The figure said. However, one important thought was plaguing Dante's thought process.

" Let me get this straight. I'm going to be taught by a cat?" Dante said.

" Oh, I almost forgot." The cat said. Seconds later, the cat became enveloped in blue energy, creating a smokescreen. From the small bit that he could see, it looks at though the cat was transforming into a human like form. When a large amount of the smoke cleared, it revealed a woman with dark skin, purple hair and golden colored eyes. Unfortunately she was also, from what Dante could see, completely naked. Dante closed his eyes and placed his hand over them, thankful that the smoke gave him enough time to block his sight.

" What, don't you like it? You don't have to be shy around me." The woman teased.

" Yoruichi, as much as I love seeing you like this, I need you to get dressed. I took the liberty of grabbing you some clothing." Urahara said, throwing Yoruichi the bag he'd grabbed from the storeroom earlier. Yoruichi grabbed the items and walked behind one of the hills. Moments later, she walked back to them, now clad in a backless, black sleeveless undershirt, an orange over-shirt with two white straps on each shoulder, a large beige sash around her waist, black stretch pants and long beige wrist warmers, secured by bands, and long beige leg warmers with brown light shoes.

" Since you want to learn Shunpo, you need to know the basics. Shunpo is in essence moving from point A to point B in the shortest amount of time and steps. Since Urahara tells me you have a basic understanding of the concept, you shouldn't have too much trouble learn this, provided you do whatever I tell you to." Yoruichi said.

" Within reason." Dante added.

" Within reason." She agreed. She motioned to Kisuke, who gave her two circular markers and a step counter.

" Put this on. The step counter will measure the amount of steps you take. Since these markers will be 100 yards apart, you have to make it from one to the other in under 10 steps. The process is simple. Channel energy into your feet then move in the desired direction, visualizing the destination and allowing your spirit energy to increase your speed. The more you practice the easier it will be for you to move faster, farther and for an extended amount of time." Yoruichi said, handing Dante the step counter and demonstrating the technique while wearing a second step counter. She appeared at the opposite marker, throwing the step counter she'd been wearing to Dante, who noticed that she'd traversed the distance in three steps. Dante walked over to the first marker, got into a running stance and disappeared. Moments later, he appeared standing over the second marker. He looked at the step counter, seeing that it had taken 57 steps to get to the marker.

" You can move without being easily seen, but it took too many steps. Try again." Yoruichi said blandly. Dante reset the counter and tried again. This time he'd made it in 65 steps.

"58"

"67"

"49"

" Dammit. You and Ichigo perform it effortlessly. You make it look like child's play." Dante said, out of breath.

" Then again, your talking to the Goddess of the Flash. She's the foremost master of Shunpo in all of Soul Society." Urahara said.

" You seem to be having trouble balancing the power you channel into your feet. Take the time to work on balancing your spiritual energy, then you should be able to have much more success." Yoruichi said. Dante nodded, and readied himself again. Several seconds later he disappeared, appearing at the second marker in just seconds. Dante looks at his counter and saw that he'd only made 18 steps.

" Doing better. If you can make it under 5 steps Urahara will spar with you." Yoruichi said.

" Pummel Mr Hat & Clogs? Consider it done." Dante said. He readied himself and disappeared again.

"13"

"10"

"7"

" Once more." Dante said to himself. He disappeared again, reappearing at the marker in the blink of an eye. Yoruichi looked at the counter and smiled.

" Urahara, I think your going to have yours hands full with this one." Yoruichi said, throwing the counter to Urahara. The number '2' appeared on it."

" Well well, you've definitely impressed me. Well, we promised, so get ready." Kisuke said, revealing the sword hidden in his cane.

" Awaken, Benihime." Urahara said. Moments later Urahara's sword became more pronounced, around another foot longer than before. The grip had a gentle decorative bend that ended in a crimson tassel dangling from the pommel. Instead of a crossguard, there was a U-shaped decoration covering the first three or four inches of blade, with a flower petal design just as it meets a red string wrapping. The blade was straight with a razor like edge as opposed to a normal style curved blade.

" Looks like I'm going to have some fun." Dante said, drawing Resonant Fang and summoning One Wing Angel.

_Kurosaki clinic:_

" Nooooooooo, I don't wanna live like this anymore. I wanna go out and meet girls with bodacious bodies. A cute little guy like me would be a chick magnet but I'm stuck inside!" Kon the mod soul whined from inside his lion doll.

" You'd look even better with a sock in your mouth. Be quiet or everyone in the house will hear you." Ichigo scolded.

" Your just jealous that you're not cuddly! One way or another this party animal is getting out of here! This town better lock up all the ladies and this lion ain't lying! To be perfectly frank if I may, your a pain in the butt." Kon continued, laying on the floor while scratching his rear.

" I miss being in your body. All that peeping in windows and under skirts didn't ruin my reputation, it only ruined yours."

" Dammit Kon, that had better be a joke. Don't tell me you were been doing something illegal out there." Ichigo said, furious.

" Being locked up was bearable when Rukia was around, oh Rukia please come back. Please come back! Come Back!" Kon called out.

" Quiet Kon, I'm tired of hearing you complain." Ichigo said. His badge suddenly made noise again like it did earlier that day, signaling the appearance of a hollow.

" Oh that's just great." He said, using the badge to separate himself from his body. He then used it to remove Kon's pill to put in his body.

" Here goes. I always worry what kind of shape my body'll be in when I get back." Ichigo said to himself, dropping the pill down his body's throat. He then opened the window, looking back to Kon now inhabiting his body.

" Try not to get my body arrested, and behave." Ichigo said, jumping out the window.

" Goodbye, take your time!" Kon said with a grin.

" Ah, It's been awhile since I've been in this body, ha ha! It's time to go out, get down, get funky and partay." Ichigo tracked down the hollow, it's mask the usual white with deep set eye holes and a second mouth inside the first.

" Looks like Halloween's come early." Ichigo said, jumping into the air before bringing his sword down in a horizontal slash, watching the hollow disappear as he rested his weapon on his shoulder.

" Those damn things, they just keep getting uglier all the time." Ichigo said to himself. He then heard a man yelling, turning to notice a man with an Afro in the clothing of a soul reaper.

" Hey, Wait! Why're you dressed up like a soul reaper? I see you, what're you up to?" The man said, pointing at Ichigo.

" Who the hell are you?" Ichigo replied.

" What? Who am I? I'm Zennosuke Kurumadani. Ms. Rukia Kuchiki had a little trouble with the law, so an elite soul reaper was left in charge of the area. So tell me, are you shaken yet?" The soul reaper, Zennosuke, said.

" I'm Ichigo Kurosaki, substitute soul reaper. Look, this is my pass." Ichigo said, holding up his soul reaper badge.

" Combat? Pass? No Way! Ha ha ha ha ha ha, that's funny. A combat pass? Give me a break, kid, who do you think you're fooling with that thing?" Zennosuke replied, laughing. Ichigo gave an annoyed look to his badge.

" What's with this. This damn thing is completely useless." Ichigo said. Behind him an unknown figure slowly turned through the air, unsheathing what looked to be a Zanpakutō.

" Come on. Say something. If you want to apologize, now's your chance." Zennosuke continued. Ichigo heard laughter behind him, turning just in time to block an attack. The force of the attack blew Zennosuke back several feet away.

" Dammit. Hirako. Is that? A zanpakutō? Who the hell are you?" Ichigo interrogated. Shinji merely put his index finger to his mouth, silencing Ichigo.

" You mustn't make too much noise, Ichigo Kurosaki. Those who have spiritual pressure like you possess need to learn how to stay calm. Or, your presence will be felt." Shinji said.

" Felt by who? Who will feel it?" Ichigo replied.

" It seems like I need everything to be out in the open for you to understand it. Children are so foolish and blind." Shinji continued. Nearby Uryū was walking home, oblivious to the hole being torn open in the air behind him. Uryu stopped, and turned to dodge a near lightning fast strike from behind. He saw a giant hollow with pale pink mask and skin.

" Its a hollow. It's huge. I wonder if that could be a Menos Grandė. It tore open the sky and came through." Uryū said, running to avoid anymore of the hollow's attacks.

" What incredible spiritual pressure he has. Is he really a Menos Grandė? Well it doesn't matter in the end. I can still fight, even with my diminished spiritual energy." Uryū thought. He unzipped his shirt, grabbing several small cylindrical capsules from a pocket on the inside.

" I am not helpless." Uryū said, tossing the objects at the hollow.

" Take this. Renzei. Formaru. Bentei. Gral! Heifen!" Uryū chanted, the Ginto produced a rectangular field of energy that severed one of the hollow's arms.

" I filled those Ginto with spirit energy, when I was in the soul society. They may not be enough to kill him, but maybe I'll be able to discourage him." Uryū thought to himself. The hollow's injury bubbled before a new limb appeared from the wounded area.

" Instant regeneration." Uryū thought. He pulled his sleeve up, revealing a bangle with a wire and hook. He hooked the hook to a tree while he looped the wire around the tree to trip the hollow.

" His upper body disappeared. It split in two. No, there were two of them." Uryū noticed as the top part of the hollow disappeared, reappearing behind him and attempting to hit the teen to the ground with its tongue. The bottom part took the opportunity to crash into Uryū in the confusion, restricting his movement by the wire still attached to his arm. The hollow readied its tongue to strike when a blue, arrow-like projectile sliced off its tongue.

" My my." A man's voice called out.

" How clumsy, Uryū." He continued.

" So it's you. Ryūken." Uryu said.

" Is that any way to address your father? You haven't changed at all, have you son." Ryūken said. In another part of town, Kon in Ichigo's body was walking down the street, stopping momentarily as he sensed a spike in spiritual pressure.

" That was weird. What a strange sound. I thought that Ichigo found me for a second there." Kon said, seconds later continuing to jog merrily down the street.

" It's a perfect night to get into trouble. Better lock up the ladies because here I come, I'm a party animal. I won't get Ichigo's body arrested, but I do plan to wear it out." Kon said in a singsong voice. In the sky above him, a garganta opened in the air as a giant stepping through seconds later. He looked down at Ichigo's body, seeing him running down the street.

" Ichigo. Kurosaki." The hollow said. It started to follow Ichigo's body until he prepared to attack. Kon continued to walk down the street when an energy blast hit the ground in front of him, knocking him to the ground.

" What the hell! What was that about? Something almost blew me right out of Ichigo's body. Uh, wah!" Kon said, finally noticing the hollow in front of him.

" I hope you haven't forgotten me, Ichigo Kurosaki." The hollow said.

" No. No, it couldn't be. It's Grand Fisher!" Kon said.

_Ichigo:_

Ichigo managed to knock Shinji back and went into a fighting stance. Nearby, Zennosuke held onto a nearby roof to keep from being blown away by the immense spiritual pressure.

" This, spiritual pressure. It's so powerful. What is it?" He said to himself, managing to look over the roof he was hanging onto.

" Those guys are monsters, both of them." He continued.

" It's here." Shinji said.

" Who the hell are you? Hirako, answer me!" Ichigo interrogated.

" I explained it. You're the one to blame. It's all because you were releasing your spiritual pressure." Shinji explained.

" I demand that you tell me who you are!" Ichigo yelled.

" You're a pain, you know that? With all that's going on, you only care about who I am? Then take a good look." Shinji said. He held his hand to his head as if he was gripping the brim of a baseball cap. Seconds later white energy gathered above his head, pooling together into a specific shape. Ichigo gasped.

" What do you see? Tell me. Try and guess if you can." Shinji said.

" A hollow mask." Ichigo replied.

" Yes. A zanpakutō, and a hollow mask. You get it now? I'm a soul reaper who crossed over, into the realm of the hollows." Shinji explained as Ichigo remembered his experiences dealing with the appearance of his hollow mask and inner hollow.

" You remember what I told you, right?" He continued.

_-Flashback-_

" _I hope we can be friends, Ichigo."_

_-End Flashback-_

" You see, i'm a Visored. Your one of us, Ichigo. You do not belong with them. You have got to know that you do not belong with them at all." Shinji said.

_Urahara Shōten:_

" What the hell is that?" Dante said, noticing the increase in spiritual pressure in the area. He and Urahara walked back upstairs to the door of the shop.

" It seems like there are some exceptionally strong players out tonight." Dante said.

" I agree. Lets wait here for now and see how things play out." Urahara replied.

" For now." Dante agreed.

_Twilight Town:_

" Cain, you ok? You look a little drained." Kyoichi said after everyone met up at the sandlot.

" I saw Maleficent down in the sewers. She has a new lackey. Nexys Nabara.

" I've heard of him. He was a boy who was sent to a mental institution that Ansem had mentioned to me one time. He'd studied this particular ability of his to project a feeling of pain into his opponents." Mickey said.

" He's one tough bastard. That power of his packs a punch. Managed to fight through it enough to break his concentration. It seems that he has to focus in order to utilize his ability to its fullest." Cain said.

" That's good to know. It tells us that his powers aren't omnipotent." Riku replied, nodding his head.

" Anything else?"

" She gave him some sort of object. Due to the lighting I wasn't able to get a clear look, but I have a feeling that it involves Seifer. I overheard their conversation, and that tells me something is gonna go down." Cain said.

" Lets go find him." Sora proclaimed. They traveled from the sandlot into the market street, searching for any signs of the heartless, nobodies or Seifer. They soon noticed several citizens running up the street from the tram commons while a couple shop keepers held short swords, fighting with a pair of dusks. Cain quickly shot the closest while Sora destroyed the other with a swipe from his keyblade.

" Thanks, It's a good thing you came when you did." One of the shopkeepers said, bowing to show his thanks.

" Don't mention it. Where'd they come from?" Sora asked.

" They just appeared, captured a couple black, shadow-like creatures and the ones that remained started attacking." The second shopkeeper explained.

" Heartless. They must be capturing them for a reason. Was anyone harmed?" Cain asked.

" No. We saw them come from the crack in the wall. I saw Seifer and his friends go in there a short time before these things arrived. I'm wondering whether they're alright." The first shopkeeper said.

" We'll go see. Head back to your shops, you should be safe now." Sora said as they ran towards the crack in the wall into the forest.

" Looks like something big's going down." Cain said. They carefully walked through the forest to the gate to the abandoned mansion. They saw a relatively new lock binding the gate shut, which Sora solved by unlocking with his keyblade. Once inside the courtyard the noticed the door open, seeing Seifer, Rai and Fuu walk out. Behind Sora's group arrived the mysterious Vivi, who walked to stand beside Seifer.

" Seifer, what are you doing? Why are you working with the heartless?" Sora asked, hoping to plead with him.

" Why? Don't you feel it? The power ebbing through me in waves. I've come to realize that my usual methods of discipline aren't going to work on you. So I figure that I'll change that. Hyperion!" Seifer called. Seconds later, a mass of swirling white energy appeared in Seifer's palm, expanding in shape until the glow faded, revealing a gunblade. Unlike the gunblade utilized by Leon, Seifer's gunblade handle was fashioned after a semi-automatic handgun as opposed to a revolver in Leon's case. The blade was also more streamlined and much lighter, making it easier to wield in one hand. The most distinguishing factor of the weapon was the addition of a heartless pendant with a black jewel at the center hanging from the lanyard ring at the bottom of the handle.

" I apologize, but we must follow Seifer, no matter what." Fuu said. She then revealed a pair of chakrams, smaller in size compared to the ones utilized by Axel or Ayaka. Rai wielded a pole with several segments that increased in diameter as it neared the ends of the weapon. Vivi held a stave with a knot at the head and white wrapping near the head.

" Looks like I get to beat the stuffing out of you after all." Cain said.

" Be careful. We can't hurt him too much, and we need to release the influence of that charm on his weapon." Riku said. Cain nodded.

" Lets go." Sora said, summoning his guardian soul keyblade.

_By god, Allah, and so forth, I wrote a ton of words. Lemme know what you all think and stay tuned for chapter 5: Removal and Deception._


	5. Chapter 5: Removal & Deception

_Hello everyone. Somehow after I completed this I completely forgot about for several months, so I'll release it since I haven't uploaded any chapters for anything lately. Chapter 6 is in the works and the latest chapter For RE:ADT is coming along as well. Also, the Bleach part is canon with the occasional anime only reference or character involvement. Please remember that Kingdom Hearts and Final Fantasy belongs to Tetsuya Nomura and Square Enix, and Bleach belongs to Tite Kubo. Be warned that there will be Birth by Sleep spoilers. Kind of. Other than that, enjoy._

_Chapter 5: Removal and Deception_

" Well Seifer, it seems you may be a more challenging opponent than I would've thought." Cain said, drawing his sword. Seifer streaked forward, connecting against Cain's sword with a horizontal slash.

" You think your better than me?" Seifer retorted, pressing fiercely against Cain's sword with his gunblade.

" I _know _i'm better than you." Cain shot back, knocking Seifer back. Seifer then shot a fire spell at Cain before spinning his gunblade wildly before swinging, sending circular blades of energy at him. Cain back flipped to dodged the first few blades before readying his sword to knock the other blades into the air where they exploded.

" I'm impressed. I underestimated you. Guess I need to kick things up a notch. Limit Break, Meteor Siege!" Cain called his charged magic energy into his sword and stabbed at Seifer several times from a distance, sending several meteor-like objects at Seifer. He sliced through most and dodged the rest. Nearby, Sora and Kyoichi fought against Rai, who despite his less than intelligent behavior, had no trouble in blocking and dodging the strikes from the keyblader and ninja.

" Thunder." Kyoichi called, absorbing the spell into his katana and using it to concentrate the attack, which connected with Rai head on, sending him to one knee. Before Kyoichi could enjoy the successful attack, he rolled to dodge a stream of lightning from Rai, who had a grin on his face.

" Not a smart idea to use a thunder attack against a thunder elemental fighter like me, ya know?" Rai taunted.

" Looks like I'll have to think outside the box a bit. Limit Break, Pentagram Crash!" Kyoichi called throwing a shuriken at Rai. It missed him by inches, causing him to laugh at the seemingly failed attempt to harm him. The shuriken, however, ricocheted off the wall behind him traveling past him again. It did so three more times, finally embedding itself into another wall. Rai laughed again until he noticed the path the shuriken had traveled began to glow. He then noticed that connected to the shuriken was a thin wire. The shape created by the wire resembled a pentagram, completely trapping Rai in the middle.

" I didn't see this one coming, ya know?!" Rai said, now aware that he was trapped.

" Gotcha!" Kyoichi said, snapping his fingers. The now flaming pentagram rose high into the air before it began spinning just like his shuriken. The pentagram rotated until the cutting edge was perpendicular with Rai. The attack then rapidly fell to the ground, furiously spinning as it connected with Rai. The attack caused an explosion that momentarily enveloped the entire area in a dust cloud. When the dust subsided, Rai's shirt and pants were torn in several places and had sustained several cuts over his arms and face. His weapon had a large gouge mark from where the attack had collided.

" Smart. Your weapon protected you from most of the damage, though I can see that the attack still took its toll. Your definitely a worthy opponent." Kyoichi said. Rai nodded once before collapsing to the ground, unconscious. Inside of the mansion, Fuu and Vivi were maneuvering throughout the main hall while fighting against Riku, Kairi, Mickey, Donald and Goofy. Riku, Mickey and Goofy all fought against Fuu while Kairi and Donald fought against the magic oriented Vivi. Riku used his keyblade to block one of Fuu's chakrams while Mickey dueled against her. Goofy would occasionally through his shield, though the agile teen would either dodge the attack or redirect it. Mickey and Riku both charged towards her at the same time, causing her to jump close to the ceiling while Goofy through his shield. Since she was in mid air, she was at the mercy of the attack. She just managed to block the shield with her chakrams, but the force from the attack knocked her into the ceiling. Just as they were about to continue their attack, they stopped as Cain and Seifer busted through the main door, sending splintered wood into the nearby walls. Fuu then charged wind magic into her chakrams, throwing them to create a small scale tornado around Riku. Riku then used his keyblade to dispel the worst of the attack, resulting in just a few gashes on his arms and face and getting Fuu's chakrams stuck in the wall nearby. As she ran to obtain them, Goofy tossed his shield to stop her from getting closer while Riku intercepted her and leveled his keyblade at her chest.

" Stop." He said, his voice unwavering. Fuu looked at the chakrams, then back to Riku.

" I fold. I'm loyal, but not stupid. I know when I can't win a fight." She said, walking over to the wall before sitting against it.

" Seifer, as much as I'm enjoying this you need to stop." Cain said, parrying Seifer's stab before delivering a horizontal slash that forced the gunblader to jump back to avoid his blade.

" You said it yourself that you wanted this. There's no stopping it now!" Seifer replied, attacking in much quicker succession that before. In the nearby study, Kairi and Donald put their magic expertise to work against Vivi, who proved to also be quite adept with magic. Donald ran forward before casting a thundara spell while Kairi provided support with a water spell. Vivi acted quickly, casting a reflect spell to cancel out the attacks and send them back at the two. Kairi ran forward and swung with her keyblade, causing Vivi to jump back.

" He seems to not be very skilled in close combat. This'll work to our advantage." Kairi thought. She knocked a fireball launched by Vivi away from her, which hit one of the bookshelves, while she ran back over to Donald. She got close and quickly told him her plan, earning a nod in reply. Kairi launched an Aero spell to distract Vivi and ran towards him as she ran towards Vivi again, keeping him from utilizing anymore spells while Donald waited for the perfect opportunity to strike. Kairi countered each strike from Vivi's staff while looking for an opening, when she remembered a specific part of the battle between Dante and Sora. She waited for Vivi's attack, then struck, knocking Vivi's staff into the air. She back flipped away from Vivi, giving Donald his moment to attack. He quickly launched a blizzara spell, freezing part of Vivi's body before following up with a thundara spell to knock him unconscious.

" We beat him." Kairi said, slightly winded after their battle. They then noticed the fire from Vivi's fire spell earlier caused several books on the shelves to burst into flames. After quickly putting out the flames, they ran back out into the main hall, seeing several slash marks in the staircase, walls and even the ceiling. On the first floor they saw Cain and Seifer in the middle, parrying every blow the other dealt. Cain knocked Seifer's gunblade back long enough to draw his handgun, forcing him to dodge the oncoming fire. Cain fired three more shots before streaking forward with his sword ready, using it to knock Seifer's gunblade out of his hand. Cain quickly aimed at the heartless charm hanging from the handle, smashing it to pieces. The gunblade spiraled wildly before embedding itself into the wood floor. Seifer then collapsed, unconscious.

" There, things should be alright now." Cain said. He mentally cursed himself when the sound of laughter began to fill the room.

" So, you managed to defeat Seifer. I'm impressed. However, now your in for a real treat." The person. whose voice echoing around the hall, remarked. Seconds later several Shadow and Neoshadow heartless appeared, heading straight for Fuu, Rai, Vivi and Seifer.

" Enjoy your snack heartless. Their hearts will most definitely be delicious." The Person said, disappearing through a dark portal.

" Him again." Cain said.

" That the boy you were telling us about earlier?" Mickey asked.

" The very same. Come on, we gotta protect Seifer and the others." Cain replied, shooting one of the shadows. Kairi ran over to assist Riku with a group of Neoshadows while Donald and Goofy protected Vivi and Rai. Since she was still conscious, Fuu assisted Sora in fighting a small group of heartless on the second floor. Fuu took down a group with her chakrams before being struck in the shoulder by the claws from another Neoshadow. Kairi helped Fuu over to to Seifer, Rai and Vivi, healing the wound on her shoulder before going back to fight.

" Riku, up there!" Cain said, pointing at the chandelier above the heartless. Cain fired two rounds from his handgun to weaken the supports before Riku tossed his keyblade. The weapon spun like a boomerang towards the chandelier, slicing through the remainder of the damaged chain. Sora and Kyoichi rolled out of the way as it came crashing down, slamming into several of the attacking Neoshadows. Sora quickly took down the remainder and walked back over to Seifer and the others. They saw Seifer slowly come to, shaking his head before shakily attempting to get to his feet. Cain walked over and offered his hand. Seifer accepted it graciously. Hayner, Pence and Olette walked through the front door moments later.

" Thanks. I apologize for all that's happened lately. Especially you, Olette." Seifer said.

" I forgive you." She responded.

" Hell, you weren't yourself. Your forgiven." Hayner said. He offered his hand to Seifer, and the two shook.

" Hayner, can you, Pence and Olette get Seifer and the others out of here? We're gonna do some looking around here first. We'll meet up with you soon." Sora said.

" Gotcha." Hayner replied as they helped Seifer and his group walk out of the mansion.

_Karakura Town – Uryū:_

The Menos Grandė that Ryūken has injured had turned towards him, intent on devouring the interloper before going back to its former target.

" You're interrupting." Ryūken said coldly, firing another arrow that destroyed the hollow's head and tops of its shoulders.

" Instant regeneration isn't all that impressive. It just means that you have to put them away before they can do it." He continued.

" Wait. What is, going on? I thought you gave them up before. So why do you have Quincy powers now?" Uryū asked.

_-Flashback-_

" _But father, why do you hate being a Quincy so much?" Uryū asked._

" _Because there's no profit in it." Ryūken replied, not turning away from his book._

_-End Flashback-_

" You told me they were worthless, and that you didn't want to be associated with them. You rejected your Quincy powers long ago, back when I was still a child." Uryū questioned.

" Your a fool son. I chose my words wisely. What I said, was that _I _had no interest, and that you had no talent for it." Ryuken said, re-appropriating his glasses.

" Unfortunately, my powers aren't as disposable as yours. Otherwise I would have lost them long ago. It was me he chose. Whether we like it or not, we can't argue with the facts. Our ancestor, Sōken Ishida, needed to choose a man to bequeath all his power and skill. Only one man is allowed to continue his legacy, to call himself the last Quincy." Ryūken said, pulling out his father's Quincy cross, a pentacle. Uryū gasped at the sight of his grandfather's cross.

_-Flashback-_

" _Look, I did it." Ury__ū__ said, firing a spirit arrow into the center bulls eye on the target. Sōken nodded in approval._

" _I want to become a Quincy, then I can be just like you." He continued._

" _I see. Are you certain that is what you truly want? Ury__ū__, before making this decision you must search your heart. Becoming a full fledged Quincy is no easy matter." Soken said._

_-End Flashback-_

" The Quincy cross." Uryū said. The bottom hollow from the Menos Grandė appeared behind Uryū. Before it could strike, Ryūken fired another arrow, striking the hollow between the eyes, causing it to explode.

" He killed that hollow with a single shot. I could barely slow it down." Uryū thought.

" Uryū. You weren't ready. You went to the Soul Society before you were strong enough. Now you've lost the few powers you possessed. What a fool. You were so blinded by your pride that you sacrificed everything you had, and yet in the end you accomplished nothing. But, if you'll trust me, I have the ability to restore all your powers, everything you lost to the Soul Society." Ryūken said.

" There's no way. It can't be done." Uryū retorted.

" If you really don't think I can do it, why not put me to the test? But first, I do have one condition." Ryūken replied.

" What is it?" Uryū replied.

" You must swear to me, you'll never associate with a soul reaper again." Ryūken said. The condition was a shock to Uryū.

_Karakura Town – Kon (Ichigo's Body):_

Kon, in Ichigo's body, ran as fast as his power and Ichigo's body would allow, closely pursued by the hollow Grand Fisher. Kon jumped up to the roof of a multi-floor apartment complex, barely dodging a punch from the hollow's fist, which connected with the side of the building.

" Whoa, Whoa Whoa! Time out ok?! You don't wanna fight in the middle of town, right?!" Kon pleaded.

" Why do you run away from me, Ichigo Kurosaki!" Grand Fisher said, jumping over to the next building Kon had jumped to.

" Fight me. Return to your Soul Reaper form."

" Why me?! Why doesn't this guy pick on someone his own size. Come on!" Kon said.

" You got the wrong guy!" he continued, jumping onto the ladder of a nearby water tower.

" You can't fool me. I know exactly who you are." Grand Fisher said.

" I'm not the one you want." Kon replied, jumping away as the hollow punched the water tower, punching a large hole where Kon had been just moments ago. Kon hadn't been able to land on any of the other nearby building as he quickly fell towards the street below. Before Grand Fisher could catch him, he suddenly felt himself stop, the area around him now completely pitch black.

" Wha? Oh no, please don't tell me I've been eaten."

" Your awake, so stop talking like your dreaming." A voice replied. Seconds later Kon reappeared and was dropped to the ground. He looked up to see Ririn, Kurōdo and Noba, Urahara's other three Mod Souls, standing above him.

" Kon, what're you doing running around in Ichigo's body?" Ririn asked.

" I'd say that's pretty obvious, isn't it? I'm being chased all over town by a gigantic hollow." Kon shot back.

" Ha ha, your such a moron. You couldn't come up with anything better than running away." She teased.

" Hey, listen you pea-brained idiot. That thing that was chasing me was no ordinary hollow."

" Yeah, your right. He's pretty fast, huh. When it comes to running away, there's no one better at it than you and he was keeping right up." Ririn mocked.

" Huh?! Why you little..." Kon started.

" Huh, the hollow!" Ririn screamed out. Kon screamed out in terror, assuming something similar to the fetal position.

" I was just kidding." Ririn revealed with a grin.

" You what?!" Kon fumed, getting back to his feet.

" Don't worry, if your having trouble dealing with this hollow we can help you out. Right?" Ririn asked.

" They say it's fate that brings us together. They also say that one who is kind to others, is sure to be rewarded." Kurōdo philosophized. Noba just replied with a grunt.

" Yeah, well I wouldn't ask for your help if you were the last..." Kon started before hearing the giant hollow destroying the area nearby in search of him.

" Where did you go? Ichigo Kurosaki!" The hollow's voice boomed. The hollow turned to the stairway where Kon and the other Mod Souls were.

" There you are." The hollow said as sweat ran down Kon's face. Kon and the others then started running.

" If your big plan is just to run away, then I don't see how that's any different from what I was doing on my own." Kon yelled as they ran down the street.

" Just keep running, I've got an idea." Ririn responded. As they neared a T intersection, Ririn rose her arm.

" Turn left at that corner." She said. Kon, Noba and Kurōdo did as she instructed, quickly running around the designated corner. The Grand Fisher soon followed, suddenly finding himself in a barren desert mountain range.

" What?!" The hollow called out, surprised by the sudden change in landscape. He turned around, seeing Ichigo in his soul reaper form standing on a small hill with his sword resting on his shoulder.

" There you are. Ichigo Kurosaki! He ha ha. So you finally turned into a soul reaper. That's good, because now I'm going to take your life." The hollow called out, drawing the massive katana on its back.

" We'll have to see about that." Ichigo said, readying his zanpakutō. Behind a nearby rock, Kon, Ririn and Noba hid from the sight of the hollow.

" You, you really think It'll work?" Kon asked, slightly worried.

" It'll be a piece of cake. We've handled hollows before. Come on, lets do this." Ririn said.

" Right." Noba replied as he and Ririn moved from their hiding spot. Ichigo swung his sword in a vertical slash at the hollow who managed to block the blow with his own weapon, which hadn't even left its sheath. It fully drew its sword while Ichigo jumped back, landing on another small hill. The hollow then sliced the hill in half vertically before slicing through the piece of ground right below his feet, causing Ichigo to front flip to avoid the strikes. This act, however, left him straight open, allowing the hollow to grab him and attempt to crush him into another hill. Noba teleported him away at the last second, saving him from injury.

" Huh? He's gone." The hollow said. Noba and Ichigo appeared on another hill behind the hollow.

" Thanks for lending a hand." Kurōdo, disguised as Ichigo's soul reaper form, said to Noba. He then returned to using Ichigo's voice to continue their ruse and jumped to strike the hollow again. Before he could complete his attack, Grand Fisher used the tendrils on his head to ensnare 'Ichigo' around the neck, tossing him into Noba and Ririn which resulted in breaking Kurōdo's transformation. Ririn's illusion then canceled out, returning the landscape to normal.

" An illusion. You thought you could trick me? Ichigo Kurosaki, your not going to get away that easily." Grand Fisher said, going to chase after Kon.

" Kon." Ririn said.

" Those guys are no help at all. He's even madder now than he was before." Kon said, jumping into the air again to avoid another attack from the tremendous hollow.

" There's no way he's gonna believe that I'm not Ichigo. And there's something weird going on with that mask of his, because I can see half of his face now and I..." Kon started before being grabbed by the Grand Fisher.

" Enough games. Do you think I have nothing better to do than chase you around this city, waiting for you to change into a soul reaper? Break time's over." The hollow said, tightening his grip around Kon before smashing his fist, and Kon, into the ground.

" If you'd rather die like a coward, then return to your soul reaper form and fight me like a man, then so be it." The hollow said, raising its hand into the air as Ririn, Kurōdo and Noba looked on in horror.

" I will take your weak human body and grind all your bones into dust." Grand Fisher proclaimed.

" Damn it, I can't move." Kon thought. His eyes widened as the Grand Fisher prepared to finish him off. Suddenly, a small object connected with the hollow's hand, blocking his attack. Kon intently looked at the center of the source of light that blocked the hollow, discovering it to be some sort of charm with a kanji written on it.

" What. What is that?" Kon thought. '

" Well well. I told you, to always keep it with you when you came back from your trip." A voice said from behind Kon. Ririn thought that she was seeing things.

" That looks like... It can't be." She said.

" I hate to spoil all your fun, Mr. Hollow, but Ichigo's a little busy right now. I realize I'm not much of a substitute, but this guy's not cutting it so why not play with me?" The man said. He wore a soul reaper uniform with a heavily damaged length of white fabric held in place with a piece of metal and leather on his left shoulder. His zanpakutō hung at his waist on his left.

" Really, and who are you?" The Grand Fisher asked as the charm harmlessly fell to the ground.

" Oh i'm sorry, I always forget to do that. Allow me to introduce myself. I am Isshin Kurosaki.

_Karakura Town – Ichigo:_

" That spiritual pressure. It's huge, but there's something different about it." Ichigo thought.

" Is it a hollow?" He said quietly.

" Oh come on, you've got to be kidding me. Is this guy for real? Did _he_ just sense that hollow? Amazing. And that other spiritual pressure, that definitely belongs to a soul reaper. But I don't recognize it so it's no one I know." Shinji thought. He then saw Ichigo jump away.

" Hey, wait a minute. Where're you going, you better get back here right now, I'm not finished talking to you yet!" Shinji yelled.

" No thanks." Ichigo replied.

" Hey, did you hear what I said?!"

" Yeah, I heard you and I'm not interested in anything you say. I don't want to join your stupid club and I don't want to be your friend. So why don't you and your Visored organization get the hell out of my town?!" Ichigo shot back. He stared at Shinji intently, moving his hand over his chest.

" I'm a soul reaper. You got that? I'm not one of you." Ichigo proclaimed before leaving using shunpo.

" Huh, this guy's not going to make this easy for me, is he?" Shinji said to himself, grabbing a cellphone out of his back pocket.

" It's Shinji, yeah i'm calling for Miss Sarugaki to give her a progress report. Oh it's you, sorry. He didn't go for it." Shinji said. Unintelligible yelling then came from the other end.

" Quit shouting in my ear, will you? It wasn't my fault. Look, don't worry. It's only a matter of time. Just try to be patient." He finished, closing the phone.

_Karakura Town – Isshin & Kon:_

" Kurosaki. I see. So tell me, how are the two of you related?" The Grand Fisher asked Isshin.

" I'm his father." He replied, bending down to pick up Ichigo's lucky charm.

" Here Kon, hold on to this. It was a charm that was created just for you. I meant to give it to you." Isshin said, tossing the charm to Kon.

" He knows my name." Kon thought.

" Huh, how did you know that? When did you figure out that I wasn't really Ichigo?" Kon asked.

" I've known it all along. Ever since the first time I saw you in Ichigo's body. We went to the cemetery to visit Masaki's grave, remember? You didn't fool me. Just think about it. All the times you've been in Ichigo's body, when you think back on it, do you ever once remember me calling you Ichigo? I'm not as dumb as I look. Right? Just ask those three over there." Isshin said, referring to Ririn, Kurōdo and Noba hiding behind the bushes nearby. Ririn laughed nervously as she and the other Mod Souls rose from their hiding place.

" I guess that means you know about us too." She said.

" Please forgive us. This is rather awkward, I mean with us hiding behind the bushes and all." Kurōdo replied. Noba zipped up the eye hole of his mask. Aggravated, Grand Fisher smashed his fist into the ground with a roar.

" Now it makes sense. If his father is a soul reaper, then Ichigo Kurosaki is of true blood. In that case, I can understand how that little orange haired bastard was able to defeat me.

_-Flashback-_

" _Out of all the hollows that I've ever met, you are by far the oldest, the filthiest, and the most infuriating of them all!" Ichigo said as he fought against the Grand Fisher._

_-End Flashback-_

" Don't take this the wrong way but I'm not really interested in you, Isshin. I came here tonight for one reason, to kill Ichigo Kurosaki. Since your his father, you should know where he is. Bring me your son!" The hollow proclaimed. Isshin's head tilted slightly to the side.

" Well I don't know where he is, it's not like he's a little kid who can't take care of himself. Plus, I always trust my kids and give them as much space as possible." Isshin said calmly.

" Are you kidding me?!" Kon said, sitting up. " You queensie your daughters like your a mother hen!"

" That's because Yuzu and Karin are special. It's a completely different situation. They're the exception." Isshin said, now turning to face the hollow again. "Besides, it doesn't matter if you're interested in me or not. Because the reason I'm here is to kill you. So if you don't wanna fight me, that's gonna be a problem." Isshin finished. Grand Fisher's booming laughter echoed around the area.

" You came here to kill me?! Those are pretty big words for a puny little soul reaper. You might want to reconsider, before you decide you should ask yourself if I look like an ordinary hollow. Watch." Grand Fisher proclaimed with more laughter. He began to grow even more immense before the top portion of the hollow's mask exploded. Grand Fisher was now twice the size he had been, and now had two tusk like protrusions coming from the tops of his shoulders and a large growth had formed on his forehead that vaguely resembled a horn.

" Now you see the true form of my power!" The Grand Fisher said.

" That guy's freaking huge! He's gotta be as big or bigger than that Menos I saw before." Kon said in disbelief at the outrageous size of the newly transformed Grand Fisher.

" What do you mean, Menos? How can you compare me with one of those weaklings! No, I am..." The hollow started before being interrupted by Isshin.

" An Arrancar." Isshin stated.

" Hmm?!" The Arrancar responded.

" Surprised? Your a group of hollows trying to attain soul reaper powers by removing your masks. Isn't that right?" Isshin stated.

" Well well, your right, your not as dumb as you look after all. However, your a fool, because you know you can't win against my sword." Grand Fisher said, drawing the zanpakutō on his back.

" That's a zanpakutō? That thing is absolutely ginormous!" Kon said, seeing the size of Grand Fisher's sword.

" That's right. A zanpakutō's size equals the amount of one's spirit energy! It is obvious that little weapon hanging limply by your side, could never defeat my zanpakutō! Moron!" Grand Fisher proclaimed.

" Is that so? Well then, why don't we just find out." Isshin said, getting into a fighting stance.

" You know you can't win and you still persist. I thought soul reapers were supposed to know their own lore, but I guess I was wrong. In death, perhaps you will gain the enlightenment you lacked in this life." Grand Fisher said. He readied his massive zanpakutō and began to swing as Isshin jumped towards the giant hollow, drawing his sword. In an instant they both struck, passing each other.

" Impossible." Grand Fisher said. While his sword had embedded itself into the pavement below, Isshin's strike had been successful.

" Let me give you a lesson on the basics. Once a soul reaper reaches the level of captain, he then has the ability to control the size of his zanpakutō. They have to, because if they didn't they'd all be swinging around swords the size of skyscrapers. Kinda like you. Remember this. You should never judge your opponent by the size of his zanpakutō." Isshin said, slowly sheathing his blade. When the handguard clicked against the sheath, the enormous Arrancar suddenly split in half through the hole. The hollow fell to the ground, blood spurting out onto the pavement.

" Don't talk about soul reaper lore until you've learned that." Isshin said.

" Impossible." Grand Fisher managed to choke out before disintegrating into nothing, along with his zanpakutō.

" He can use just one strike." Kon said in disbelief that Isshin could take down such a powerful enemy in a single blow.

" Wait a minute I'm really confused. What happened?" Ririn said.

" Ichigo's father just saved all our lives." Kurōdo said.

" Nobody here got hurt." Noba replied quickly.

" What the hell. I don't believe this, am I losing my mind? This is crazy. Is that really Ichigo's goofy old dad?" Kon pondered as he thought about various instances of his interactions with Isshin.

" Have you avenged her? Has justice been meeted out?" Kisuke said, walking down the road with Dante by his side in spirit form.

" Look who showed. Urahara." Isshin replied.

" What am I, chopped liver?" Dante added.

" Oh, i'm sorry. You must be Ichigo's new friend." Isshin said.

" It's been a long time since I've seen you my friend. Huh, I see you haven't lost your touch, that's good to know." Urahara said calmly.

" Why're you being so civil? It's not like you."

" Oh come now, I don't want you to blame me because your spirit energy has withered away, that would be upsetting." Urahara said with a slight smirk on his face while he opened his fan.

" Oh, well you can stop worrying. I wouldn't have blamed you if it did wither up and disappear after all this time. Some may have seen it that way but, that's not my style." Isshin replied with a tinge of ice in his voice.

" Tell me. How's it feel, Being a soul reaper once again after 20 years?" Urahara asked."

" Alright, I suppose." He replied, not opening his eyes.

" I see. And do you feel better now?"

" In some ways, yes. Truth is, I never held a grudge against that stupid hollow in the first place. If I'm being perfectly honest with myself, there's only one thing I've really regretted over these past 20 years, and that was my lack of power. The fact that in spite of everything, I couldn't save Masaki that night." Isshin said.

" Yes, some things never change. It seems your son is much like you in that regard." Urahara said.

" What?! Your wrong about that." Isshin shot back.

" Oh, I don't think so."

" I said, your wrong about that!" Isshin near yelled.

" Then I guess we'll just have to agree to disagree. While we're on the subject of your son, did you happen to notice. . ." Urahara asked, leaving the sentence unfinished.

" Yes. It appears they've made contact with him. Just as you expected they would. The masked army. The Visoreds." Isshin replied, all business again.

" The Visoreds?" Ririn asked.

" What are they?" Kurōdo added.

" I don't know, but he called them the masked army." Noba said, pulling out a sketch pad and writing down masked army then Visoreds underneath.

" They're a lawless gang of former soul reapers who attempted to obtain hollow powers through the use of forbidden techniques. Their aims and whereabouts are unknown. They've kept their presence completely hidden. They're obviously dangerous. At the moment the only thing I _do_ know is that the Arrancars and the Visoreds don't appear to be working together." Isshin explained.

" That's helpful, we don't need our enemies forming alliances. In one way we're lucky. The Visoreds don't trust any soul reapers, former or otherwise." Urahara revealed.

" So I've heard."

" In spite of their hatred of soul reapers, they made contact with your son. That must mean they. . ." Urahara said, once again not finishing his sentence.

" Yeah. If they're willing to go to those lengths they must be preparing for some kind of battle. Just like we are. The only explanation can be that they must have noticed this sudden change in the Arrancar as well." Isshin finished.

" So that last hollow, the one that was found with the broken mask. . ."

" He called it, Arrancar. Is that right?" Noba said, writing down the name of this new type of hollow and broken mask above it.

" So we should be calling this an Arrancar?" Ririn asked.

" As you already know, we've been aware of Arrancars popping up from time to time. But this one, huh, this one surprised me. This Arrancar's level of development was beyond anything I've ever seen before. The Arrancars have been stuck at the same level for decades, but this one had power. Serious power. Something's happened. It didn't take much to figure it out. I guess you know what it means. Sōsuke Aizen must have made a deal with the would be Arrancars. He's going to help them achieve their goal. It's the same goal he's been chasing. He's trying to create a true Arrancar, using the power of the Hōgyoku." Isshin explained again.

" Huh, well according to my calculations, I've figured that it would take another year for the Hōgyoku to reach full power."

" I think it's safe to say that power isn't yet complete. The Arrancar we encountered was still flawed. His power has surged, but his spiritual pressure is still imperfect. He was probably a prototype, sent here to collect data to see how well he could fight at this level. That's his level now, but for who knows how long. The Hōgyoku's power is immeasurable. There's no question that Aizen will perfect his prototype, his research must be very near completion. Once he has something that can be used on the front line of battle, he'll lead the true Arrancar, and an army of Menos Grandė. And they will conquer the world. How do we fight back." Isshin said. Urahara moved his hat slightly.

" We'll figure something out. We just have to rise to the occasion. With the situation the way it is, everyone will be mobilizing for war, friend and foe alike. You, me, The Visoreds. Not to mention, the Soul Society. Hey, someone's coming in this direction." Urahara said. Isshin slightly tensed up.

" I know this spiritual pressure." He said.'

" Yeah, it's your son, Isshin. If he meets you like it this, I'm afraid it will make things difficult for you. Listen up everyone. It's time for us to go home." Urahara said.

" Alright, we're leaving." The four Mod Souls responded without complaint. Urahara pulled them over to the side while Isshin went home.

" I don't want anyone saying a word about Isshin's true identity to Ichigo." Urahara said before disappearing with Dante.

The next morning, Dante and Rain arrived at the high school, noticing Ichigo and Uryū in deep concentration. Before Dante could ponder the reason, he and Rain heard the door open, seeing Orihime run into the room a moment later.

" Hi Ichigo, good morning!" Orihime said enthusiastically. Shinji suddenly appeared next to Orihime.

" Hello there Ichigo, good morning." He said in a similar manner to Orihime.

" I can't believe it. Hirako showed up like nothing happened." Ichigo thought.

" Good morning. Let's see, Shinji right?" Orihime asked.

" Wow, you remembered my name, I can't believe it! Your great Orihime." Shinji said, embracing her in a bear hug.

" What?! What is this?! Just what do you think your doing?!" Keigo said in his usual over eccentric manner.

" What's going on? Who's making all that noise? Who in the hell are you?!" Shinji responded, slightly frightening Keigo.

" What do you mean who am I? You've got a lot of nerve asking me that, you act like your best friends with the people in this classroom. I've known them a lot longer than you have Mr Johnny-come-lately." Keigo said.

" Already been shot down this morning, have we?" Mizuiro joked at his friend's expense.

" Get your hands off of her you pervert, she obviously doesn't like it!" Keigo yelled.

" Are you crazy, if she didn't like it she would have screamed or hit me over the head with her book bag. But she didn't do that which is proof that she's not uncomfortable. Am I right, Orihime?" Shinji asked.

" Your implying that I'm the one who's out of line? Your behaving badly and everyone knows it. Isn't that right? Come on guys, tell this creep off. Give me some support!" Keigo pleaded. He then felt a woman's hand on his shoulder.

" It's alright. Don't worry, I've got your back." Chizuru said, squeezing violently on Keigo's shoulder. " Leave this to me, he won't bother us anymore."

" But wait, Chizuru, what have you..." Keigo started before being moved aside by Chizuru, a look of near insanity on her face.

" He has to pay, right?! Orihime is too sweet a girl to say something, even if she's being treated badly. A creep like you who takes advantage of her good nature and indiscriminately goes around attempting to hug her should not be allowed to live." She said.

" Umm, I know this isn't something you want to hear Chizuru but following your logic, you should be the first one who gets wiped out." Keigo said nervously. Chizuru gave him a cold stare.

" I am the hands of justice! Special attack Chizuru Genocide!" Chizuru yelled.

" Maybe you could just let him off with a warning." Keigo pleaded weakly. He and Chizuru turned as they heard a chair scrape across the floor, seeing Ichigo turn around and walk towards Shinji. He grabbed a fistful of his shirt and dragged him towards the door.

" Come out here for a second Hirako." Ichigo said as he opened the door.

" Oh! That's odd. What do you think is going on with Ichigo, guys? In all the years we've gone to school together, I've never known him to be so protective." Chizuru said.

" I-Ichigo?" Keigo said, surprised by his friend's unusual behavior. Outside Ichigo slammed Hirako to the wall, much to his displeasure.

" Maybe your not aware of it but that really hurts. And what are you getting so mad about, anyway? It's not like Orihime is your girlfriend. I mean lets face it Ichigo, your socially inept. You and I both know that even a hottie like that isn't gonna give you the time of day, right?" Shinji complained.

" Shut the hell up, and I expect you to apologize to her when you go back in there. You should know better." Ichigo scolded.

" Yeah, well that's just a matter of opinion. But either way you don't have the right to be telling me what to do." Shinji said, sticking his tongue out at Ichigo, who noticed the odd piercing.

" Hirako. All I want to know is what the hell you're doing here." Ichigo asked.

" Well that's a stupid question. What do you think i'm doing? I'm a student, and I have to go to school."

" You had one reason for coming to this school. It was to somehow recruit me into your ranks. And if so, you have no reason to be here anymore." Ichigo said.

" I'll be the judge of that. Surely you don't think I've given up. I mean just because of what happened between you and me yesterday. You'll find I don't give up so easily. I'm going to follow you around until you say yes. Besides, it's too late. Once the symptoms appear, Visoreds can never become normal again. And no matter what you may think, the die is cast, you're already on our side, Ichigo. Orihime. The big guy. Four eyes. Snow head and his friend. You think that they're all friends of yours? Well your wrong. Fact is they're only your friends for the time being. If you continue to be a soul reaper, sooner or later you'll be swallowed up by the hollow inside, because you will lose your sanity. When that happens, it's all over. Your power will destroy everything around you, your friends, and your future. Even your identity will be blown to smithereens. Oh come now Ichigo, don't tell me you haven't already noticed? Your inner hollow is slowly starting to take over. It's already so powerful, you can barely control it. You should come with me, Ichigo. I'll show you how to save your sanity." Shinji said in his more serious tone. Neither of them noticed Tatsuki nearby outside in the courtyard. Once school had ended for the day, Keigo stopped over by Ichigo's desk as he was gathering his things to go home.

" Ichigooo!" Keigo called out excitedly. " How about we swing by the old arcade on the way home today. What do you say?"

"Sorry, I need some time alone." Ichigo responded, waving to everyone before leaving the room without another word.

" Ichigo? Huh? What's the deal, Mizuiro? Ichigo sure is acting weird." Keigo said.

" Really? Because you know he's always kinda weird." Mizuiro responded

" This isn't ordinary weird, it's something else. What I'm talking about is that stuff that happened after the summer break. You remember how he was back then?"

" You're imagining things, Mr. Asano." Mizuiro said nonchalantly.

" Huh?! What's with calling me mister?" Keigo asked in annoyance.

" What do you mean, Mr Asano? Your becoming paranoid." Mizuiro joked.

" Wha?! You just did it again! Don't tell me I'm paranoid. Why are you and everyone else being so distant all of a sudden. I know you're all against me, I hate it when you do that." Keigo said. Blocks away, Shinji slowly shuffled home, tired after another day of school.

" Man, I'm bone tired. And what's with that test right after we get back from summer break. Huh, I guess I'm just not used to this kind of activity these days. And why do I have to go to that stupid school and recruit Ichigo. That's not making the best use of my talents." Shinji said to himself as he walked down the side street. Seconds later Shinji ends up being kicked from behind, knocking him into the corner wall of the side street.

" What the hell. Wait a minute, who did that. Your..." Shinji started, stopping when he saw who his attacker was. It turned out to be a blonde haired girl with stubby pigtails about 14 years of age, wearing a light red jogging suit with a kanji on the left side near the opening and flip flops. She also had a sword slung over her back with a cord and had a scowl on her face.

" Hi-Hiyori." Shinji said, a tinge of nervousness in his voice. She kicked off one of her flip flops into the air to catch and struck Shinji across the face.

" Why's it taking you so long to accomplish one lousy mission dumb ass?!" Hiyori yelled as she struck him.

" Sorry about that."

" Have you done anything?! Where's Ichigo Kurosaki?!" She continued, grabbing Shinji violently by his hair.

" There are, complications." Shinji said.

" Complications?! You know I don't like complications! Bring him here right now, get off your butt right now and find a way to talk him into it" Hiyori raged.

" That's the problem, I tried to talk him into it but he wouldn't listen to me." Shinji told her.

" If he won't cooperate then use force to make him join!"

" What?! That's not what you told me the other day, you told me to persuade him." Shinji replied.

" Ugh!" Hiyori grunted in annoyance when they heard footsteps behind them.

" There you are." the voice, a female replied. Shinji got to his feet.

" Orihime." he replied.

" Shinji." Hiyori said, motioning for him to come closer. He did so, when she proceeded to head butt him directly in the face.

" Why was someone following you dip stick?!" Hiyori scolded.

" I knew, even if I asked him directly, Ichigo wouldn't tell me what was going on. He would tell me it's nothing to be concerned about, but that's not true. So I thought I'd ask you, Shinji. Who are you, and what do you want with Ichigo?" Orihime asked.

" Huh, you've got some nerve. You think you can just ask and we'll tell you everything you wanna know." She said. She paused for a few moments before continuing. " I'm Hiyori Sarugaki. Don't make me repeat it. Alright you two, I told you my name now it's your turn, tell me yours."

" I'm Orihime Inoue." Orihime said.

" And I'm Yasutora Sado." Chad said.

" Huh, a princess and a tiger. Those are pretty impressive names. Well our names only mean monkey and common. I have to say that we're very jealous. Really." Hiyori said, referencing the meaning behind Chad's and Orihime's names before mention Shinji's and her own.

" I don't know what your talking about. The only one that's common is you. Even I've got more going on up there than you." Shinji said while picking his nose. Hiyori turned around and punched him in the nose, causing it to bleed profusely.

" I mean, just look at you. You've got such smooth hair, and a really beautiful bod. I could totally despise you now that I think of it."

" Instead of holding a grudge maybe you should work on making yourself look a little more desirable." Shinji grumbled. Hiyori hit him the face again, letting out a cry of pain before holding his face even tighter.

" Pardon my friend's words. Anyway, I'm afraid that I can't answer any of your questions. In fact, I think we'll be better off if I just kill you." Hiyori said, reaching for her zanpakutō. Before she could strike, Shinji grabbed her from behind and quickly carried her away.

" Sorry guys, gotta go!" Shinji yelled as he ran away with Hiyori.

" Wait Shinji." Orihime responded, beginning to run after them.

" Orihime, don't stop them." Chad replied.

" What's the problem Chad?"

" It's no use. At their speed we'd never catch up to them, we just don't have the power. And the truth is, even if we could catch them, we'd only end up, getting ourselves killed." He explained.

" Put me down, they're getting away! All I wanted to do was kill them a little bit." Hiyori complained as Shinji carried her farther and farther away.

" I can't, don't you get it? We're trying to recruit Ichigo. There's no need to cause trouble with the others just yet." Shinji said

" Shut up!" Hiyori yelled, punishing Shinji by poking him in the ass.

" Oooooooow, stop that! You'll give me diarrhea. Your worse than drinking water in a foreign country!" Shinji retorted, offering Hiyori the same punishment.

" Ow! Knock that off. You creep, how dare you goose a young lady!" Hiyori yelled back.

" Shut up or your gonna get punished. You know what happens to little brats when they don't do what they're told, they get a spanking!"

" Try that without hands, monkey brain." Hiyori yelled, punishing him again.

" Ow, knock it off or your really gonna get it." He shot back. Several minutes later, Hiyori had calmed down and relaxed, allowing Shinji to make carrying her easier to do.

" Humans make me crazy, I really despise them." Hiyori said, much calmer now.

" Yeah, I know what you mean." Shinji replied.

" You know what else I hate? Soul reapers."

" That's not surprising." He paused. " I know your angry, but you have to be patient and control yourself, alright?" Shinji said, proceeding back towards their hideout. At the Urahara shop, Dante was looking through some history books he checked out from the school library, thinking back on the previous night.

" The Visoreds. The Arrancars. And then Ichigo. From what I've heard, he's had to deal with the constant interruptions from his inner hollow. I almost wonder if his attitude lately has been connected to that. I can't say I'm surprised. I've had that feeling myself. In any case, it looks like I should stick around for the time being and see how things pan out. Though we're gonna have to get moving again soon. If things do prove to be as bad as I'm assuming them to be, I should think about contacting Cain and the others and having them come here next. Ichigo and the others might require the support." He thought, turning the page. He'd been fascinated by the world's impressive history. The revolution in a country called the United States of America, the two world wars that began in the continent of Europe, and even the history of the Japanese samurai. He saw Rain walk into the room, toting her own school bag.

" How've you been doing?" He asked.

" Fine. Though I've been having some trouble with my history homework." Rain said, laying the bag on the table and grabbing out a textbook.

" Not surprising. We aren't from around here so we're bound to have some trouble. Though I've managed to do pretty well. Though Cain, Kyoichi and I aren't the smartest beings around, we have a decent education. In part by Cid and surprising Leon, even though he doesn't talk too much." Dante said.

" When are we heading out?" She asked.

" I think it would be best of we waited another couple weeks before we decide to head out. I want to see if we may need to have Sora and the others come here." Dante said.

" I don't like saying this, but I'm not a big fan of Sora." Rain replied.

" I know. He killed Demyx the first time around. But this time we're gonna find him and make sure nothing bad happens to him a second time. As for Sora, well, maybe you two should eventually talk about this. It's not going to go away until you get over it. I should know. I've seen my fair share of people who didn't go to face a problem like this, and it didn't work out very well for them."

" I see. I'll talk to him, but after we find my father. By the way, what's your opinion on Ichigo's behavior?" Rain asked.

" I have a feeling that Shinji isn't letting on about something. I'll tail him tomorrow after school and see if I can find out anything. I'll have to be careful, if he happens to be one of these Visored I'll have to make sure he doesn't notice me." Dante said.

" Got it. Now, for that history help." She said.

" Ah yes. Alright, since we're currently in the early Nara period, lets start on chapter 4." Dante said, flipping his book open to the page he indicated.

_Twilight Town – Abandoned Mansion:_

" Here's where we kept Sora, Donald and Goofy while we restored Sora's memories." Riku said. They walked over to the computer where a password screen appeared. Riku quickly typed in the password and looked over some of the files kept in the computer when a particular file raised his interest.

" Xehanort. Hmm." Riku said to himself as he opened the file, where a video diary entry filled the screen.

_Diary entry #264:_

" _I've done some research on my assistant, Xehanort, and I've noticed a few irregularities as of late. First off, his history. While it's true that he's had experience with a prestigious university group, documentation states that he was a member of their team over 60 years ago. Then there was the trouble with the Unversed. Unfortunately I couldn't effectively study them before they disappeared, along with the three in particular that dealt with them. Terra, Aqua and Ventus. The most disturbing anomaly I noticed was his obsession with some of the experiments. He seemed compelled by my experiments, to the point that I'm beginning to suspect that he may be consumed by this research. I could just be getting paranoid as of late, but I've noticed some disturbing changes in Xehanort. When he joined in my research, he was very open about his interest and enthusiasm in the project. Nowadays he's very distant and mysterious in his actions. From my previous journals I've discovered that this erratic behavior began around the time I ceased the hands on research on the pure heart I'd managed to obtain a few months ago. I've had Dilan keep and eye on him and hope that I'm just imagining things. In any case, I have a strange feeling that something horrid is going to happen. End entry."_

" That's interesting. I almost wonder." Mickey thought.

" King?" Sora asked.

" Nothing Sora." He responded quickly.

" Terra, Aqua and Ventus. Those names sound oddly familiar." Sora, Riku and Kairi all said in unison.

" They were keybladers, much like yourselves. They disappeared 10 years ago, around the time Ansem started his research. I'm unsure as to where they are, if they're even still alive." Mickey said, a slight bit of somberness in his voice.

" I'm sorry to hear that. By the way, what are the Unversed? I've never seen them before. And Ansem mentioned that they disappeared around the same time as Xehanort went to work at his lab." Riku asked.

" The Unversed are somewhat akin to the heartless and nobodies. From the small bit of research Ansem had compiled, he concluded that they represent emotion, while the heartless represent the heart or soul and the nobodies represent the physical body. The reason they disappeared was due to the destruction of their creator, Vanitas. Vanitas created them from peoples emotions mixed with the power of darkness. When he was defeated, the Unversed went with him." Mickey explained.

" It seems like we owe them some thanks. Hopefully they're all okay." Kyoichi said. Mickey kept his face from contorting into a scowl.

" We're eventually going to need their assistance again. But we need to defeat Maleficent and Organization XIII as well as closing the keyholes. From there we can try to get those three back. Our best bet would be to retrieve Aqua. If she's still alive, she should be able to aid us in locating the other two. We'll need all the help we can get if we're to defeat Xehanort once and for all." Mickey thought.

" Cain, I think we should go to Yen Sid's tower next. We need to see if he's alright. From there we can get some more information and a possible destination to head to from there." Sora proposed.

" Sounds good to me Sora. Let me copy the data and we can get going." Cain replied, placing a memory chip into the computer before beginning the download.

_I hope the update was well worth the wait. Keep an eye open for Chapter 6: Shock and Awe._


End file.
